Week #79 (December 12, 2016)

Quote of the week (this one is not exact):

1) Maintenance man in some complex we were working in - "You better
grow eyes in the back of your head if you're out here at night... The
Baptists got the land, The Catholics got the money, and The Mormons
got the FOOD!"

What a week! Transfer news: the email the assistants sent out says I am
staying and Elder Martin is leaving, but we are still awaiting calls
to find out the final final word on it all. Either way, just glad to
be serving the King of Kings during this Christmas season.

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be truly
happy in this life. We meet so many people from so many walks of life
on the street, especially exchanging into new areas on the fly, and I will
tell you, there is no worldly recipe for happiness.

I have met the happiest and the saddest, the poorest and the richest,
the healthiest and the sickest, and let me tell you - it is almost
like none of the factors correlate. We are talking about a Class A,
Scooby-Doo, Nancy Drew, tie-yo-shoes mystery here.

Sure, "generally-speaking" we can say that the poorer, sicker, etc. etc.
people are, the sadder they are, but man o man, you got some real
outliers in this whole equation. It literally doesn't add up.

The Savior is the prime example of a wonderful outlier in the
happiness equation. Isaiah 53:2-5 says:

"2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root
out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall
see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised,
and we esteemed him not.

4 ¶Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we
did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed."

He had it worse than anyone EVER, and yet when you make Him your
friend, you get healed.

My conclusion of late about the source of true happiness: following Jesus Christ

I love you all, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year,

Family: I will let you know as soon as I get transfer calls if they call soon.

-Elder Cox

Exchange (I was on the phone), left to right: Myself, Elder Owens from Arizona, Elder Martin from Utah (my comp), and Elder 

Hermano Perdomo wearing my hat - his family

 signed up to feed us on Christmas

 Eve like 20 days in advance.

  They have my corazón.

Week #78  (December 5, 2016)

Quotes of the week (both were in Wal-mart, today):

1) me in Spanish: "Excuse me?"
lady in broken english:  "What?" 
me in English:  "Oh sorry do you speak Spanish?"
lady,  screaming in broken english: "NO I DO NOT SPEAK SPANISH!" (apparently I had poked

a nerve there)

2) me:   "Hey man can we give you a card from our church?"
 (man pulls back hoody with crazy look in his eyes) "What church are you from?"
me:  "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints"
man: "Oh, Iam way too extreme for you guys, hah."
me:  "Extreme, how?"
man:  "I am an extreme believer."

Nothing like a couple hours in the wonderful world of Walmart, right?
There is no mission as exotic as a mission that covers a Walmart
brothers and sisters.

Texas is an interesting place.  On exchanges in some English areas, we
were talking to people from probably 10 different countries - asian,
arabic, palestinian, european, you name it -  it was really cool.   I am
starting to really enjoy teaching Islamic people.

The work chugs along. Most contacts feel about the same, but there is
the occasional person who you can feel sincerity out of, and man, it is
hard not to get choked up bearing your testimony to them on the
street.

For Christmas we had Elder Robbins of the Seventy come in.  What a teacher!
Wow. He absolutely blew my mind about 14 times in the couple hours he
taught us.

After he left, the assistants put on a really funny singing/dancing show
(none of them being singers or dancers) in which Elder El-Bakri (my
trainer) had literally the entire mission just dying laughing.  If he
doesn't go to the NFL he can make it in stand-up in a heartbeat.

We had a couple tender moments this week where members just treated us
like family; it means so much out here. I just wish everyone could
meet the Perdomo family from El Salvador -  talk about salt-of-the-earth
people, jeesh.

As usual, impossible to contain all of the mission experience from a
week in one email without boring you all to death or just copying my
journal into an email. I am so excited for the sweet chance to share
some of my experiences with the family in person - the mission is a
miracle.

The Lord lives today, He loves us, He answers our prayers! I pray that
you all speak with Him some more this week. He will speak back! "Draw
near unto me and I will draw near unto you."

-Elder Cox

me and the bud, Elder Green

Me and Elder El-Bak .  . . I mean Santa.

That's right, Santa.