Monday, April 18, 2016

Family

Wow. I don´t know what else to say. This week has been so full of ups and downs and all-arounds and I can´t believe how much has happened. So many things going on at home. So much sad news and so much need for prayers. I´m so sorry to hear about the missionary in Steven´s mission, Lou Hickman, and Eva Fay.  I don´t mean to add to the sadness, but there has been some sad news here as well. You´ve probably heard but on Saturday night there was a big earthquake in Ecuador. We don´t have a lot of information because as missionaries we can´t watch the news or anything, but my companion is from there and it happened in her city. Her dad isn´t there and her brothers are in the US so her mom is there alone. She was so worried because we couldn´t get ahold of her, but today she got an email from her saying she is ok. Everything is a mess and her house collapsed, but her mom is alive and well. Please add them to your prayers. So many missionaries here are worried about their families and loved ones. I hope Sam Yorgason and Shannon are alright as well. I heard that none of the missionaries were affected so I hope their families are at peace as well. Lots of praying to do this week. 

But this week was still really good. We had 4 days of trainings this week, one of them being in a multi-zone conference with president in front of like 70 or 80 missionaries. But they all went really well. The only bad thing is we were planning every night super late and then traveling and we were exhausted...and then of course I got sick. :) Hehe, but the Lord is so merciful and I’ve never healed so fast from a cold. Everything went well and we saw soooo many miracles this week.

I´m out of time, but I’ll write more next week. Sorry, I’ve been trying to be with my companion and talking with her about her family so I didn´t get to write much. Love you all so much. 

Hermana Cox

Monday, April 11, 2016

Hello Friends and Family!

Good news is that we had a baptism this week!!! J... F... was baptized on Saturday and it was such a special experience. He is an escogido for sure! The sisters found him knocking doors and now he is a baptized member of the church. His testimony is based on the Book of Mormon and he knows that it is true which helped him feel that everything else we were teaching him was too. He is really shy and timid but Hermana Suarez and I both feel that he is going to grow so much in the gospel and be a great blessing to this ward and a great example to the members for his complete obedience. He is exactly obedient and wants to do everything right. He even "confessed" to the district leader in his interview that he liked to play chess and guitar and asked if he could still keep doing that or not. Haha, he is so pure and so ready to give his life to the Lord. 

This week was crazy with lots of meetings and also giving 2 trainings. We are the sister leaders of 4 zones so we do a lot of traveling and trainings. Next week we will be giving 4 more big trainings, one of them in a multi-zone conference we have with President....yikes!! But it will be a good experience. Please pray for us! The Lord is teaching me so much with this responsibility and even though it stretches me, I am so grateful because I know it´s making me better. 

Please pray for little M... (10 years old) who will be baptized this week or next, P... and M... who also have a baptismal date, R..., E..., J..., and C... who we are working with to accept baptism, and J... our new recent convert. I love the people here and will try and tell more about them soon. 

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week. I know the Lord is so aware of each one of us and loves us individually. We are blessed by him every single day, we only have to look and we will surely find his hand. I am so grateful to be a missionary.  

Missionary challenge this week, find someone who is not a member of the church and share a small message about some blessings you have received from living the gospel. It may seem small, but it´s the little things that bring about the great miracles. Pray to find the one. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Cox

Family Home Evening

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Dearest Friends and Family:

WAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANOTHER TEMPLE IN LIMA PERU!!!!!! I can´t even express how much joy I felt when I heard that announcement from Pres. Monson. Our whole chapel filled with excitement and I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest for joy. That means there will be 4 temples here in Peru!! That is seriously incredible. The faith of the people here and their righteousness is bringing great blessings and I feel so grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to be here and be a part of this grand work. I decided I’m going to start my Lima temple dedication fund now so I can come back and see the temple dedicated and visit all my areas here. :)

 Saying goodbye! The first ones are of L... and F.... 

F... leaves for Germany this week!!!

Our pensionista and her family. The ones that always posted pics for you mom :)

Well, week one down in my new area! I am serving in the ward Portada del Sol in the Stake Campoy. We are the only sisters in the area and the area was just opened for sisters about 7 months ago.

Here is our zone of Campoy! Yes, as you see we are the only sisters here...that´s a fun change! Don´t worry, they treat us like princesses and take good care of us. :)

 It is a lot more humble than Monterrico...but then again every area in the mission is. :) There are a bunch of people who are really humble and receptive and the members are awesome! I´ll try to send a few pics so you can see what it´s like. 

My new room

My companion is Hermana Suárez from Ecuador and she is awesome! She actually was living in Salt Lake for a year before her mission because she was studying at LDS Business College. She speaks fluent English which is pretty fun. :) She is such a hard worker and I am learning so much from her! 

  Pictures at the temple with my new companion

Wow, this is seriously a gold mine here, there are so many amazing people to teach! We have an investigator who will be getting baptized on Saturday so please pray for him! J... is awesome and has such a great desire to change his life. Also please pray for M... and his family, R... that she can receive an answer, E..., P..., and all our investigators. Also L..., V..., and M... A... who are recent converts. :) 

Wow, Conference was incredible and I absolutely loved it. I received so much revelation and help that I didn’t even know I was searching for. I loved the talks from Pres. Eyring, Pres. Uchtdorf, Pres. Monson, Elder Holland, and the one about peace as well by someone who I can´t remember their name. And basically every other talk as well. :) I can´t wait to get the Liahona to be able to study the talks. I know that we have living prophets and apostles who guide and direct us. I love this church and I love the Lord. 

Hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much!!!!!! Hurrah for Israel!!!

Hermana Cox

More temple pictures

Well, family I have some exciting news for you...it finally happened...this week I received my trunky letter. This letter is the one that tells me that my time is coming to an end and confirms my release date...August 2nd I will be coming home!  I am excited to be seeing you all again but I will be honest and say that my eyes got a little teary when that little letter was put into my hands. Wow, how quickly the time passes. :( 

Monday, March 28, 2016

Hello Family and Friends!!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!! Or "Semana Santa" as they say here in Peru. Here they celebrate the whole week and Thursday through Sunday is a holiday.:) I hope you all enjoyed it and were able to have your testimonies strengthened of the reality of the Savior`s atonement and resurrection. This week has truly been very special for me as I tried every day to study about and think of the Savior. I had begun to feel like my relationship with my Savior was becoming a little distant. Sometimes it can be so easy to let the gospel lose it`s wonder if we aren`t careful and if we don`t continually strengthen our testimonies through meaningful, spiritual experiences.

I recognized that this week needed to be a special one and that I wanted to use this "semana santa" or Easter to really draw closer to him again. Every day I studied about what he did in that particular day of the week over 2 centuries ago and tried to turn my thoughts to him throughout the day. Every time I mentioned his name or testified of him or his gospel I tried to really feel it. Wow, it was a beautiful week for me and it all culminated with a very special and spiritual Easter Sunday. That morning I once again read the question of the angel to Mary at the tomb, "Why seek ye the living amongst the dead? He is not here, But IS RISEN." (Luke 24: 5-6) What a beautiful statement of hope and joy. He is risen.

 I loved the Savior`s own testimony as we said to his apostles, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." (Luke 24: 39) I remember reading the story of Thomas who doubted until he saw the Lord in person. However, the Lord, in his great love, gave him the testimony he needed with the words, "Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing." What a beautiful invitation that the Lord extends to each of us. I especially loved his words that followed. "Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed." (John 20: 27-29) That statement from the Lord made me think. I have never seen the Savior with my mortal eyes, but do I really believe that he lives and is the Savior of the world? As I reflected and prayed the spirit confirmed to my heart once again that yes, I do believe. I know he is my savior and that HE IS RISEN. And because he rose from the grave, I will too. My family, friends, loved ones, we can all see each other again and live in happiness in his presence as long as we follow his example and are faithful in what he has commanded us to do. I finished with the last verses in John, "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that ye MIGHT BELEIVE that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. I love my Savior and can`t wait until the day that I will be able to fall at his feet and bathe them with my tears of gratitude. My hope is to live worthy to be prepared for that day. 

Another spiritual feast came on Saturday night as we had the opportunity to listen to the General Women`s conference! I love love love this meeting and I always leave with a heart and to-do list full. :) This conference was centered so much on service and love for one another. It really struck me how simple the messages were, yet how powerful. I had the spirit testify to my heart that this is exactly what I need to focus on now in my life and what will truly help us as women to be the daughters of God and contributors of his Kingdom here on earth that he needs us to be. I can`t wait to listen to more counsel from our prophets and apostles this coming week in General Conference. I hope everyone has plans to watch and has prepared questions you want answered and guidance you need. I know that as we prepare ourselves to receive revelation from the Lord that he will grant it to us. 

This week was also the last week of the transfer and yesterday we received our new assignments. (They have started telling us earlier so we can prepare so now you won`t have to wait a week to hear what happened.) I will be leaving my area and going to a new area called Campoy to be a sister leader with Hermana Suarez from Ecuador. She will be my 3rd companion from Ecuador and I’ve been in the same zone as her before so I feel like I know her a little already. :) I`m excited and have received my confirmation from the spirit that it`s where I need to go. I am very sad to leave Monterrico because I have truly come to love so many people here. I`ve seen miracles daily in my life, the life of the members, and the life of our investigators. I`ve felt joy I didn`t know was possible and seen the Lord about his work. The greatest feeling is knowing that I’ve been able to be an instrument in his hands, however small it may have been. I`m excited for the new adventure that awaits in Campoy and to come to love the people there as well as the sweet sisters we will be able to serve. I`ve heard great things about Hna. Suarez and am very excited to come to love her even more and learn from her. I`m sad to leave my sweet companions. I`ve enjoyed our 3 musketeers so much :) But I know we all have learned what we needed to from one another and grown so much together. Now it`s time to see what else the Lord has in store for us. 

Transfers.  bye Monterrico!

With my companions up on diente do oro

Our sweet sisters in our zone.

Please keep praying for L... and F.... We invited L to be baptized this week but she still says she needs time. We don`t know exactly what more she needs to help her make the decision but she is feeling the spirit and loving the gospel more and more. She has also gotten into family history to help F... prepare names to go to the temple and has just fallen in love with it. (Reminds me of someone else I know...mom;) We are hoping that will be a big help for her testimony. :) F... leaves for Germany to study on the 5th of April and will stay there until he finishes school. He is going to live with a family of members which will be really good for him, but I’ll sure miss him. He`s such a good kid. His birthday is on April 9th and it is also the day he will go to the temple and be baptized for his dad. How special. :)

Z... is still doing well and has received the answer that the church is true...but she is still having a hard time accepting it. :) We are going to keep working with her but please keep her in your prayers. 

Please keep praying for C... V... as well. He is a less active member that has returned to the church but is the only member of his family and doesn`t have much support from them. His wife is basically against it and it makes things hard for him. But he is so strong and I know he`ll make it through. 

I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week. Enjoy General Conference, I`m sooooo excited to hear what the Lord wants us to hear. Please pray for me with this new transfer!! Love you all! :)

Much love,

Hermana Cox

The 3 musketeers eating lunch in bed! 

At the church with our less active member E... She is the best. 

Monday, March 21, 2016

Hello my dear Friends and Family!

Yes, week 6 is here again...however this is a special transfer with 7 weeks instead of 6 so it still isn´t the last! We had an awesome week and found some awesome new investigators. I saw many miracles as always and tender mercies of the Lord. We got to do a service project for a less active member which was spur of the moment. Our whole area is super rich, but there is one part that is a huge hill of sand and many people have built little houses on it. It is a very humble area and our less active member was concerned she couldn´t come to church because she didn´t have water. We told her that wouldn´t be an obstacle and volunteered to help her carry water up from her uncle´s house. It was a lot harder than we thought it would be and by the time we made it to the house I think we had more water on our skirts and in our shoes than in the big buckets, but it was a fun little service we could do for her. It also helped me remember how grateful I am for the little things we have like running water and drinking water on demand. 

I am soooooo excited for this Easter week and hope you all enjoy learning more about and testifying of the Savior´s resurrection. I know I will! I´m out of time.  Sorry this was so short. We had to give the big report on all the sisters and that usually takes up a bunch of time.

But love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!! Find a way to remember the Savior every day and use this special week to draw even closer to him and strengthen your testimony of his atonement and resurrection. It is the most important message to the world. I love you all!

Hermana Cox

Monday, March 14, 2016

Hello, Hello! 

So I guess I’ll start out with the big event of the week...on Thursday we were able to have a multi-mission conference with Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the presidency of the Seventy as well as Elder Uceda, our area president. Wow, wow, wow how I loved it. I received so much guidance and direction from the spirit and had specific names of investigators come to mind as he shared thoughts and teachings with us. It was amazing how the Lord was able to answer all of my questions and concerns through one of his servants. I also loved the things Elder and Sister Uceda shared with us. They talked a lot about who we are really becoming as missionaries and that just as important as our to-do list as missionaries is our to-be list. So beautiful to remember that everything we are doing in this time is preparing us to be servants of the Lord later on in life, especially with our future responsibilities as parents and spouses. I´ll admit it was one of the trunkiest (means makes us think of life back home after the mission) conferences I’ve been to in the mission, however, I loved seeing how everything relates and is part of God´s great plan for our lives. It really helped me to think about what I’ve learned in these 13 months here and what else the Lord needs me to learn and do in the 5 months remaining. I know it is going to fly by and that scares me to death. But I am also confident that the Lord has a plan for me and if I am diligent in searching for what he wants me to do, I will be able to return home without regrets. Lots of great inspiration. :) 

A few things he shared that I loved:

-Love is a commandment. We are commanded to love all people but we must also recognize that love is a choice. It is impossible to "fall out of love" with our spouse if we are both putting in a conscious effort. It is a decision we make to love someone. 

-We cannot force obedience. The word Discipline comes from the same stem as Disciple which means a pupil or learner. When we discipline, it should be to teach. As parents we will be tempted to try to force our children to be obedient, but we must not do that. The only way to change someone is to do it from the inside out. Alma 31:5 shows how the only way to change someone is teaching them the doctrine and word of God. Elder Packer has said that the study the gospel will improve behavior even faster than the study of behavior will improve behavior. 

-He taught the principle of perspective and attitude by sharing the experience of Nephi and his family. 1 Nephi 17:20 Laman and Lemuel always saw the glass half empty and focused on their trials and challenges. 1 Nephi 17:2 Nephi went through the exact same experience in the desert and recognized that the glass was definitely not full, they still had challenges, but he saw it half full and decided to focus on the blessings of the Lord. 

It was an awesome conference and I wish I could share everything but I’m out of time. :) 

Update on F..., I mentioned that he hadn´t come to church because he had tried fasting and got sick. We visited him this week and asked him what happened and he told us that he had ended up fasting 3 meals instead of just 2!! Somehow he misunderstood us when we were explaining that he could start with a half-fast to get used to things but ended up doing a "One and a half" fast. Poor kid, but he just laughed it off and told us he is now confident he can do a normal fast next month. :) He is such a good kid and has so much desire to be exactly obedient. Please pray for his mom L... who we are also trying to teach and help be baptized. She is softening little by little but needs prayers. 

And now the moment my family has been waiting to hear my whole mission...............................this week I ate Quí!!! (Guinea Pig) Hahaha, I thought I was going to make it through my whole mission without eating it because it isn´t common here in Lima, more in the provinces. But I did try a little bit this week at our pensionista´s mom´s birthday and it was actually pretty good. I didn´t see the whole body and head and everything so that made it easier, but I can now say I´m a real Peruvian. :) 

Please pray for C... and his family, L..., Z... (almost agreed to be baptized!), E... who needs to repent and come back to church, O... and A... that he can heal and they can accept the gospel,  and that we can find new investigators!

I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful week!!!!! Remember this week to see the glass half full and choose to love!! :) 

Hermana Cox

Monday, March 7, 2016

What a great week! We had so much going on and I felt like we were constantly on the go...I love it! Out investigator J... was baptized on Saturday which was of course the highlight of the week. He was so ready and shared a beautiful testimony afterwards. His wife is a member but he used to be agnostic. Now he has a strong testimony and even came with us to visit another investigator we are working with the day before his baptism to share his testimony with her. It was awesome! He`ll make a great leader in the church and I know the Lord has big plans or him. what a beautiful feeling it is to be an instrument in the Lord`s hands and see him work miracles through us. I sent some pics (finally) so you can see his big smile when he got out of the font. :) 

This week I also got the fun treat of doing interchanges with Hermana Bergeson!!!! I`m her Sister leader so she came and worked in my area with me and one of my companions went and worked with her companion. It was so fun to catch up with her and remember all the fun times we had together. She is wonderful and I am so glad we are forever friends. 

Division with Hermana Bergeson this week!!!

Well since last week`s letter was a little bit of a "reality check, mission life isn`t always easy", I thought it would be fun to share a lot of the random, funny things that happen here...which there are so many things. :) Missionary work is also super fun and we do so many crazy things I never could have imagined I’d do. Haha, here goes. :)

This week I ate liver...not even sure from what animal...but it actually wasn`t too bad.

We were contacting a man and he started walking away so I tried to hurry and spit out something before he left and totally stumbled over all my words. But then to make things better right as I turned around to walk away with my comps I ran right into a pole. Yep, nailed it...literally. :) We got a good laugh.

On Sunday F... didn`t come to church and we were worried so we called him after the meetings and his mom answered. She said he hadn`t come because he was feeling a little sick to his stomach...she said he tried fasting for the first time. Oh no...I guess it didn`t go so well. Haha poor thing! 15 year old boys and fasting don`t click so well I guess. We have a lesson with him today so we`ll make sure he`s doing alright. :)

Hermana Martinez is learning a lot of English right now and we`ve been trying to practice a lot. It`s good for me because I am remembering my English...however it gets pretty confusing in my mind with the two languages. So we now speak fluent Spanglish in our companionship and we have had so many funny mix-ups this week and word vomits that just leave us laughing. 

It was really a great week and I am loving the work. Please pray for Z..., L..., O... and A..., C..., Family R..., C..., B..., and that we can find new investigators!

I love this work so much and I am so grateful for the spirit that leads and guides us in every aspect of the work. We had 2 divisions this week and they were both really important and I had some pretty big responsibilities to complete with them. But as I humbled myself and just tried to let the spirit work through me, I felt that the Lord was able to help me accomplish what I needed to and the spirit taught and helped the sisters more than I could have myself. The enabling power of the atonement is just as real as it`s redemptive power. It means that if I give my 100% then the Lord will give His and that is enough to accomplish any miracle. 

Thank you for all the love and support! 

Hermana Cox

Some typical peruvian food. The second one is a seafood dish...yep that`s right dad, i`m eating seafood here. :)

this is ceviche...it`s the famous dish of Peru...but we can`t eat it. :) It`s raw fish with lime and other seasonings. I`ve heard it`s delicious but who knows!

a cool fruit here called a tuna...haha not the fish. :)