Monday, January 25, 2016

Familia Y amigos!!!!!!!!!

What a week! Wow, wow, wow. It flew by but also was filled with so much every single day! We started the week with the temple which was perfect. Oh how I love the temple and the revelation and peace I receive there.  

Then on Wednesday we had a world training meeting that all the missionaries in all the world got to see. It was beautiful and I learned so many things that I want to apply. We learned nothing new but were reminded of all the things that we know but need to remember to do them daily and not fall into mediocre missionaries.  I loved that. Personally I want to focus more on being an instrument of the spirit as Elder Bednar taught and not trying to use the spirit as my instrument to teach what I think is best. I also loved how much emphasis they put on understanding repentance before we push baptism. Knowing how to repent and being a good repenter is what makes us true converts and helps us to progress throughout our lives. Without a correct knowledge of the Atonement and the repentance process we can never reach our full potential. 

This week we saw many, many miracles and F..., the referral we received from Germany that I mentioned last week, came to church and stayed the whole time! The youth did an amazing job at befriending him and he loved his experience. We have another lesson with him tonight and we are so excited to keep teaching him and see his progress. Just in this week we`ve seen his eyes take on a new light and have seen the change in him. It`s incredible to see.

We also had one of our less active members come to church again and he is returning strong! He has a huge desire to come back to church! He quit his job that made him work on Sunday, he has been meeting with us every week, coming to church all 3 hours and participating in the classes, he placed 2 copies of the Book of Mormon in his work last week, and most importantly he is trying to bring his wife and son back with him who are not yet members. We are planning a family home evening with them this week. :)

L..., the lady we contacted outside our apartment is awesome as well. We visited with her and she is excited to be baptized but she isn`t married to her boyfriend and they live together and have a child. But we explained to her the importance of being married before we live together and she asked us how she could get married in our church. We told her about the temple but that both people need to be members to enter. She then said, ¨So I can leave my boyfriend and find someone in the church, right?¨ Haha, well, I guess that`s one option. :) She wasn`t able to come to church this week but please keep praying for her.

We had our prayers answered with finding 6 new investigators who are all amazing and very prepared to hear the gospel. We are so happy and know that the Lord is hearing our pleas and blessing us for our hard work. Days of walking and contacting all day in the hot sun are surely paying off. :) The members are also helping so much and we`ve seen a big difference in the attitude of the ward. Wow, I love this work and it brings me so much joy. :)

Please pray for L..., L... and F..., J... and her family, C..., R... and K..., and Famila R....

Love you all! Have a wonderful week and always remember how much the lord loves you and wants to bless you. This week my companion and I were reading something and it said something to the effect of, "Our eternal salvation/where we will end up will be greatly determined by the depth of our conversion." How converted are you? What are you doing every day to be more converted to the gospel of Christ? Conversion is not a one-time event, it`s a life-long process that is not always easy, but brings us the most joy and satisfaction we can ever imagine. I`m so grateful to be here on my mission becoming more and more converted to the Lord every day and helping others in their process of conversion. :) I love you all so much!!!

Hermana Cox

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Familia Y Amigos!!!

Wow, another week of miracles!!! I am learning very quickly how insignificant we are as servants of the Lord and how grand God is. He can do his work of Salvation so easily, yet he uses us, his imperfect children, because he knows that WE are the ones that need these experiences to learn. This week was a little rough as far as the work goes. Many of our investigators went on vacation or we couldn`t get in contact with them. We spent a lot of time searching and walking, but I know that God sees our efforts and will always reward us. We saw the results of our labors this weekend and yesterday and I was blown away at the mercy and love that our Father shows us as his missionaries. 

On Sunday our bishop told us that he had received a call from Germany from a member family who were sending us a referral of a family that lives here in Lima. After church we called the family and they excitedly said, "Hermanas! We`ve been waiting for your call!" What beautiful words to hear as a missionary. :) We set up an appointment for the next day and yesterday passed by to visit them. (Contacting referrals in 24 hours really works!) From the very moment we met this family we knew they were very special. L... is a single mom who lives with her son F... who is 15. Her husband died 2 years ago and it`s been very hard for her son. He`s been visiting with psychologists and counselors and taking anti-depression medication to help him. They decided to go on vacation to Germany to visit her mom and there met some family friends who are members. In just one week F... was able to go to an activity or two with the family and even attend seminary. He absolutely loved it and said he felt something so different and he feels so happy. His mom was amazed and told us that he hasn`t been taking any medication since that trip and is the happiest she`s seen him in years. They were both so anxious to learn more and even asked when they could come to church. We answered some of their questions and then taught them about the plan of salvation. They were both amazed and the spirit was so strong. At the end of the lesson we invited them to be baptized and they both agreed. We extended a date for the first week of February and the mom replied that she wanted a little bit more time to prepare but that she still wanted to participate until she felt sure. Her son just looked at her and said, "Are you serious? I don`t want to wait at all! Yes, I`ll be baptized that day!" He was so excited and just seeing the absolute joy in his eyes made me want to just cry. Actually, I was honestly holding back tears the whole lesson because I felt so much joy and gratitude to the Lord for sending us this miracle.   

Then Sunday night we were finishing up our day and we had been walking all day without success of finding anyone. We only had 15 more minutes until we needed to go home and were exhausted but decided to look for one more miracle. We said a prayer in our hearts and I told the Lord I would contact whatever person we saw on the street in front of our house. A woman and her daughter approached us and we decided to talk to them. Turns out she was looking for spiritual help and told us that she has been looking for someone who can teach her and help her be baptized. We told her that`s exactly what we could help her do, arranged to visit her the next day, and yesterday went and visited her. She is awesome and was very interested. She agreed to be baptized and we will continue to visit with her and help her. 

So many little miracles every day, it`s incredible. I wish I had more time to tell them all! But I’m out of time :) I love you all and hope you have a great week. Look for the little miracles every day and never stop giving thanks to the Lord for all we have. He loves us and wants to help us to improve. I love you all. 

Hermana Cox

 We made Barilladas ( from Honduras). Tortilla, refried beans, cheese, cooked in the microwave...yum!

January 11, 2015

Wow, what a week of miracles!!! Wow, wow, wow! I love this work, especially when the Lord is working with us and guiding us to his children. We started the week finding a golden investigator, Ernesto, who had a baptismal date for November but left on vacation for 2 months and the Hermanas lost contact. Last week we decided to pass by his house just to see if he was there, which he wasn`t, but we talked to his brother. Then the next day Ernesto called us and said his brother had told him we passed by and agreed to meet with us again. He was a little surprised to meet us (he thought the same sisters as before were still in the area) but we had an awesome lesson and re-invited him to be baptized. He told us he wanted to be more sure, but that he was willing to keep listening and pray about it. He also had just barely lost his grandpa to cancer so we were able to share about the plan of salvation and bring him lots of peace. We are very excited to see how things go with him.

Then later on in the week one of our appointments fell through so we decided to visit a lady we had contacted on the same street the week before. She ended up letting us in and as we prepared to say the opening prayer we asked her if there was anything we could include in the prayer for her. She broke down and started crying and told us about some of the family problems that are going on right now and her need to find peace. We talked with her a little bit about the plan of salvation, the atonement, and helped her understand the importance of prayer. At the end of the lesson we invited her to be baptized as well and she told us that if she came to know these things were true then she would do whatever the Lord asked of her to bring her closer to him. She thanked us for the visit and told us she knew the Lord was watching out for her. 

That same night we had arranged to meet with another contact in the park named Isabel. We waited for her for about 15 min. but she didn`t show up, however, as we were just about to leave we saw her coming towards us with her dog. She agreed to visit with us for a minute and we asked her if she had any questions for us. She asked us about what the purpose of this life is and what she needs to do here. We explained a little bit about the plan of Salvation again and then focused in on lesson 3 about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She was very receptive and then once again before the closing prayer we asked if there was anything we could include for her. She began to cry and told us that her sister was sick and they were waiting for the results from the hospital to know what she has. She has been very worried and stressed and hasn`t had anyone to talk to, yet felt the confidence in us to share her worries and let us comfort her. It was such a neat experience and she told us at the end of the lesson, "I think God knew I needed someone to talk to and help me and so he sent you to me. Thank you for your love and help." 

It`s been amazing to see the Lord guiding us and blessing us for our diligence and efforts. I wish I could write more of the miracles but sadly the time is short. But I hope you are all seeing the Lord`s hand in our life as well and seeing miracles every day. They are there, sometimes we just have to open our eyes. I love you all so much! This year is going to be an amazing one full of miracles, I just know it. 

Lots of love!

Hermana Cox

Monday, January 04, 2016

Hola Familia y Amigos! 

Wow, what a week! I said goodbye to my dear Hermana Verdezoto Tuesday in the morning and then received my new companion Hermana Martinez! We shared a ward in Chosica so I know her pretty well and am so excited for this transfer together.  She came fully prepared to work and we were able to sit down, make lots of plans and changes, and this week start putting them into practice. We`ve already been seeing miracles! I`ll be honest, our area struggled last transfer and it made me so sad to have to drop investigators and less active members who weren`t progressing knowing we didn`t have many to begin with. But as we`ve put things in the Lord`s hands and tried to follow the spirit he`s been blessing us abundantly for our efforts. Because we didn`t have many investigators last transfer we worked a lot with members - gaining their trust, asking for referrals, having family home evenings, etc. And we are starting to see the fruits of those labors just this first week. We received many referrals from members, had many offer to accompany us in lessons, we searched the area book for old investigators and contacted the members who were helping them before and they agreed to recontact the people and help us find them again, and best of all we had a member family bring their friends to church yesterday who are really interested in listening to us. It`s very true that working with the members is the best way to do the work and we are ready to run with every person they give us!!! We also had 2 golden investigators contact us again after almost 2 months of disappearing and having no contact. Miracle after miracle this week! We have so many plans and goals and we know that if we are humble, put our trust in the Lord, and move forward with faith that the blessings will come. I`m sure of it. Hermana Martinez and I both feel that our area is on the point of explosion. :) Can`t wait to work hard this week and see what other miracles the Lord has in store for us! 

New Years was fun...very different than usual but simple and fun. We saw all the fireworks go off at midnight and listened to them all night which was fun. :) We were a little tired the next day and there was absolutely no one in the streets because they were all sleeping in their houses, but it was still a fun day. Then on Saturday I got to go back to Chosica to see a baptism of a girl I taught!!! Her name is Sandy and her little sister is named Cielo. My camera can`t connect to the computer right now but I’ll send pics next week. It was so sweet to see the fruits of our labors there and that she was able to keep learning and make the decision to be baptized. She is 16 and her little sister is 8. :) They are so sweet and already seem like members. It was a beautiful experience and fun to see Hermana Chavez again and other members from the ward. 

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week and a great start of the New Year. Today in my studies I found a scripture that I loved! Alma 26:22. It is the recipe for personal progression and how we can continue learning and growing and seeing miracles in our life. I loved it. :)  Also the talk from conference, ¨What lack I yet¨ is a great one to read to think about and set new goals for this coming year. 

Love you all! Thanks for the love and support!

Hermana Cox