Monday, May 16, 2016

What a week! I can´t believe it´s flown by so fast, but it was sure amazing. So the most exciting news first....Familia A... got baptized!!!!!!! The whole family together. :) What an incredible experience I will never forget. Just seeing them all dressed in white with huge smiles on their faces made every effort worth it. I was so worried about whether or not they were really prepared and if they would be able to keep strong and keep the covenants they were going to be making. It has been such a huge change of life for them and I was worried that it would be so easy to fall back into temptation. But after seeing their glowing faces as they came out of the water and then especially watching them be confirmed members of the church and receive the Holy Ghost, I received so much peace and comfort in my heart. The Lord helped me understand that they are in his hands. I am only an instrument, but he is the one who does the converting and the blessing. He knows them perfectly and loves them more than I can even comprehend. I know he is grateful for all his missionaries and so proud of every one of our efforts. These are choices and moments that will change the eternal destiny of people and I can´t believe how blessed we are to be able to share a part in the process. This family is so special, so prepared, so pure. R..., S..., F..., and A.... They were our miracle family. Now it´s time to go out and search for our next miracle. We are praying to find another family :) 

We are still seeing so many miracles in our area. I love our ward and we also had an amazing ward conference that turned out so well. Awesome choir, messages, classes. I loved it. We met President Cristobal, the Stake President and he is amazing!!!! I am so excited to get to work with him and I know he is going to bless the work so much. He taught our relief society class and it was so cool. I can tell he is very concerned about following the counsel of the prophets and doing everything the Lord´s way. 

My new companion is awesome and I love her so much. She is from the jungle of Peru and is just a sweetheart. She has been sick this past week which is hard and we have a bunch of trainings and divisions this week so we are praying she gets better quickly and I don´t catch what she has. So far I’m doing well, but please keep both of our health in your prayers. :) Other than that things are going really well and I am loving this area more and more every day. I seriously think I’m the luckiest missionary in the mission. Amazing area, awesome companion, so many miracles, and my ward is literally my family. I love it. :) BEING A MISSIONARY IS THE BEST!!!! 

I hope you are all doing well also! Sounds like lots of things are going on and I’m sure as summer starts it will get even crazier! We are just starting to get into winter here, the weather has gotten colder and cloudy. Time to break out the sweaters!!! Yay! :) 

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week. Keep doing the little things like praying, reading your scriptures every day, and going to church...and paying attention! :) Those three things are really so key to our progress and conversion. 

This week I am ponderizing the scripture in D&C 64: 33-34. Don´t be weary in well-doing because we are laying the foundation of a great work. And the promise is that the willing and the obedient will eat of the abundance of the land. I know that´s true! Wow, I love this gospel so much. I love my Savior. I love my Heavenly Father. I love missionary work. I love applying the atonement in my life and helping others to do the same. I love President Monson and I sustain him with all my heart. In our ward conference on Sunday we were able to raise our hands and sustain the prophets and apostles and I felt the spirit so strongly and just wanted to jump out of my seat and scream "I do, I do!" But of course that would be very inappropriate so I just did in silently in my head. :) We are so blessed. We should never weary in well doing. :) 

Hermana Cox

This is the women who referred the family above to the missionaries

An awesome family in our ward

Monday, May 9, 2016

Another transfer is already ending! How crazy!!! This transfer was amazing and I learned so much. I will be staying here in my area and Hna. Suarez is headed off to another area. I´ll be receiving Hna. Vaca from Peru and will be training her as a Hermana Leader. It will be an adventure and I’m a little nervous about training her, but I know that the Lord will help me and she will be amazing. :) She is such an amazing missionary and I know that she will bless this area so much! I am so grateful for the chance to learn from her and see how much she will bless the sisters as well.

I am very excited for this new transfer, this new beginning. I learned so much from Sis. Suarez and we had so many incredible experiences together. I am really excited to put those things into practice this transfer and keep seeing improvements in this area and in myself. I learned so much this transfer about how to make a relationship work with anyone. Hna. Suarez and I are very different and it wasn´t always easy to work together and train or teach together, but the Lord taught me so much and helped me to remember the importance of really loving my companion and then everything else really isn´t that important. We may disagree on things or have different ways of going about our duties, but at the end of the day we love each other and nothing will change that. I also learned the importance of relying on my Heavenly Father in all I do. I learned to make my prayers more meaningful and trust that he loves me and will guide me in my decisions. He won´t leave me alone and even if I may feel alone and lost he will never leave my side. I learned how to recognize when I am not doing well and find solutions and help through the resources the Lord gives us such as scriptures, talks, music, patriarchal blessing, leaders, and other missionaries. I know that these are life lessons that are preparing me for my life after my mission. I am so grateful for this special time the Lord has given me. 

This week we did divisions and Hna. Jimenez came here to Campoy with me. She is AMAZING! She is from Texas and is only a convert of 1 year. I loved getting to know her and be inspired by her. :)

Our cute family A... is still progressing so well and preparing for their baptism this Saturday!  This family is making a complete change in their lives and it has been difficult, but I know that they are strong and they have shown that they really truly want to change and be members of the Lord´s true church. The members have been amazing and they fight every week over who gets to have them over for their Noche de Hogar. :) So many miracles going on and so many chosen, prepared people. Can´t wait for another week here in paradise!!

I loved talking to my family this Sunday as well. They are doing amazing and are such a huge inspiration and help to me. I know they love me and will be with me throughout my whole life. It has been incredible to see how much the Lord has blessed them as I’ve been here on the mission. They not only have physically grown and matured, but done so even more spiritually. The Lord is so good to me. I don´t know exactly why the Lord thought I deserved to be blessed so much, but I hope to share that blessing with others and never lose my sense of gratitude.

Please keep this ward Portada del Sol in your prayers! M..., J..., A... N..., Familia A..., and N... could use special prayers. 

Love you all so much! Thank you for everything!!!!

Monday, May 02, 2016

Family and Friends,

First of all, I am so grateful for interviews with president!  It is always exactly what I need. I know that he follows the spirit and tells me exactly what I need to hear. I am so grateful for his love and concern for me. My doubts and concerns were resolved and I feel a lot of peace. I am so grateful for the Lord and for all the experiences he gives me to teach me. He never leaves me alone and always helps me with every challenge I face. I have really felt the spirit guiding me these past months and felt him reveal to me so much about myself and what I need to improve and learn before my time here as a missionary ends. I love him so much.

This week we had the baptism of M... which was so special. We were so worried about it because he´s only 10 and he comes from a less active family who is struggling to progress. We were trying to decide if we should wait a little longer, but we just kept feeling like he is so ready and needed to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost to be able to keep progressing. He is a light for all of us and he was sooooo happy at his baptism. It was beautiful and I’ll send pics. 

M...´s baptism!!!!!!! He is seriously the sweetest kid on the face of the planet. I love him so much and am so excited for him. :)

M...´s "psychological hug" since we can´t hug him for real. :) And his little brother D......so crazy but so funny. Look at his face in all the pictures, he´s hilarious. 

Wow, I ran out of time! We had to give our report of all the sisters today so that took my time away. But I love you all and can´t wait to talk to you next week! Love, love, love you all!

Hermana Cox

Divisions with Hna. Vaca from Peru! I forgot my pajamas so she let me borrow hers...super cute right? :)

 Our miracle family who is getting baptized this month! Familia A....

Then two of our recent converts L... and M... A.... They are the best. :)

My companion straightened my hair for me...something I have done I think 2 times in my mission :) I didn´t realize how long my hair has gotten! Then us getting ready to go clean the church for M...´s baptism. 

Monday, April 25, 2016

Dear Friends and Family!

(Last week when I got sick...just in time for all our trainings. :)

Wow, what a week! Between trainings, Divisions, earthquakes, and incredible daily miracles we are just exhausted! I´ve learned so much this week I can´t even tell you. We were able to do divisions with an area in Chaclacayo this week and I went to work there with Hna Arpita. She is awesome! She is from Arequipa Peru and is 39 years old! 

Hermana Suarez is doing a lot better after receiving news that her mom is ok. There were a few more earthquakes after that we found out about from the members, but she was just amazing all week with how focused she was and her ability to put her worries and fear about what is going on in Ecuador aside and focus on our area and the sisters. She is such an amazing, consecrated missionary and I feel so honored to get to be her companion and learn from her. She is helping me and teaching me so much. Wow, I just love her. 

(Eating at McDonald's)

We had our new family A... (Mom, Dad, 1 son, and 2 daughters) come to church on Sunday and the ward was amazing with making them feel so welcome. They listened so well in all their classes and participated with questions and comments. In Relief Society the teacher asked the sisters what blessing the Lord has given them in their lives. S..., the mom, answered and said, "Letting me find this church." She just started crying and told us how grateful she is to be learning the gospel. They are a golden family and we are sooooo excited for them. In our lesson this week they told us that they received their answer that this is true and they want to be baptized in May!!!! So many miracles going on here and the Lord answered our prayers of blessing us with a family. :) I am so happy here and I feel the area is on fire! The ward is amazing and is helping us so much.

We´ve got another baptism planned for this Saturday, M,,, P.... He is the 10 year old son of a less active family we are working with and he is just the sweetest, purest little boy. He lives right next to the church and has been coming alone with his little brother (5 years old) for 3 months. We are working on rescuing his older brother and he now comes to church with them too. His mom is still a little harder, but we´ve also seen progress in her.

(In our pensionista´s house with her daughter, friend, and the 2 boys are I... and M.... I... is 18 and we are rescuing him (is inactive) and M... is our 10 year old investigator who will be baptized this Saturday!!! He´s so cute! :)

J..., our recent convert, is doing awesome and received the priesthood yesterday. It´s been amazing to see the change in him and the joy that has come into his life. The gospel is so true and it´s a blessing to everyone who lives it. I love this work and can´t wait for another week of miracles! 

This week I also ate something called cau cau, which is cow stomach boiled and mixed with rice and potatoes. I don´t know if I’ve ever gotten so close to throwing up my food before. I've gotten good at putting on a smile and eating here but that one almost did me in. You can look up pics in the internet if you want...yuk! :) 

I love you so much. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. Until next week! :)

Hermana Cox

(Peruvian Food! The one that looks like fried chicken strips is deep fried octopus...that was my companion´s :) But I did taste it and it was pretty good. )

 A huge moth thing we found outside of our room. One of them got into our room last week at night and was flying around my head all night...lets just say I didn´t sleep well :) HUGE!

Fun Pday pics! Cutting and cooking meat for our BBQ...Peru meets American BBQ :)

 Meat and chicken cooked in BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes, mango juice, and celery. Yum yum!