5th General Conference!

April 3, 2017

Dear Family,

This week had my 5th General Conference on the mission. How did I get 5? Well... My first week in the MTC was a General Conference week. Then there was October 2015, April 2016, and October 2016. Originally, I should have been home for the April 2017 one, but the church extended the MTC time, which wound up extending my mission by 1 week. That 1 week was enough to push me 5 days past my 2 year mark (which was April 1st, 2017) and to my 5th General Conference. 

Isn't that fun!?

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

This was my last normal P-Day of the mission. For the most part, it was the same as the others. Clothes, cleaning, shopping, napping, etc. 

Towards the end of the day we were leaving to go to work when someone sitting in front of our neighbor's home yelled and asked if we were Mormon. I replied with "Yes, we are." He said "Alright! I know a lot about you!" Right then I was thinking "Oh no... He's about to throw a bunch of anti at me." (Elder McIntosh was in the car at this point. I was backing him out.) I replied with "Really? How so?" He got up, walked over to me, and began to tell me about all of his experiences with Sister Jensen and Sister Webb in Charlestown almost 2 years ago. He was an investigator who had been to church many times, had great fellowship with members, and almost got baptized. He didn't get baptized because he had some trials going on in his life that kept him from taking that step. He also told us about all he knew about the BoM. He knew a good amount because he had actually read some of it. His name was Mr May.

This interaction ended with him becoming a potential for us and potential referral his missionaries in Jeffersonville. (He was in Scottsburg to visit some friends. He lives in Jeffersonville.) 

-Tuesday-

I went to Bingo for the last time. Elder McIntosh will be taking over the cards next time. With Bingo, the senior missionary of the area deals with the cards while the junior missionary of the area helps Mary play. When I got here, Kloepfer did the cards and I helped Mary. When Kloepfer left, I did the cards and McIntosh helped Mary. Now that I'm leaving, McIntosh will take over the cards. Yay!

Later on we ran into a LA who lives right around the corner from us that we didn't know about. I don't remember his name. He joined a few years ago but left because he didn't understand anything. He's currently looking for a church to attend. Speaking of that, that's something several LA's in this area are doing right now. They're looking for a church. The first thing I always want to say to these people is "Hey! I know a great church to attend! It's one you're already a member of! Services are 10 am Sunday morning!" 

After our chat with him, we saw Mr May again. Found out his nickname and real name. He wasn't doing well because a childhood friend of his died Tuesday morning. He was dealing with that. I hope missionaries start working with him again. 

We ended the night at Subway. We used the card we got at Zone Conference a couple weeks ago. Let me explain... Zone Conference is every transfer. For zone conferences, every companionship with a car is supposed to clean their car for inspections. Not just clean, but also make sure all the fluids are full, tires are good, lights work, etc. What's the incentive for doing all this? A $15 Subway card. They give one to the companionship with the cleanest car. Guess what!... We won a couple weeks ago! That was the first time I ever got cleanest car at a zone conference! It was my last zone conference tool! It was nice getting free Subway. 

-Wednesday-

Not much happened Wednesday. We found out early that Elder McIntosh is going to be the new DL because Elder Irwin's area is being taken over by the Hanover sisters. McIntosh and I had a good discussion about being DL, how to give good trainings, the purpose of meetings, etc. He's a little nervous about it. He didn't want to be DL. I think he's going to do great. He, himself. is a convert so he should be about to teach other missionaries what works well and what doesn't because of his personal experiences. 

We saw Mr A. Read with him and talked about video games. I think it's funny that video games have been the catalyst for me to relate to 60% of my companions, and several of my investigators and members. We found out Mr D got out of jail. Apparently he got out because he was still in school. I guess still being in school when you're 18 will get you out of jail. 

-Thursday-

Last service day of the mission! We moved a lot of cans at the Clearinghouse! We did work! The shelves were pretty empty when we got there. When we left they were packed. Woo! 

When we got home my bike box came so I spent a lot of the day packing my bike into it. I had to break the chain off because it got impossibly tangled. And it was old with 1000+ miles on it. 

I went to F4RS for the last time! Yay! I'm really happy about that! The food there was good. They had some beef noodle dish with green beans, fake mashed taters, and peanut butter cake. As we left, everyone said the usual "See ya next week!" To which I happily replied "Alright! See ya next week!" Knowing all too well that I wouldn't be seeing them next week. 

I'm evil. I know. :D

We finished the night with Sis S. We didn't tech anything. She was busy criticizing the plans for her new house. She's building a new house behind her trailer and apparently, the contractor messed the plans up. She kept making negative comments about how the contractor's trying to cheat her and I kept trying to give her a more positive view of things. It didn't work. Yeah... She's.... Something.

-Friday-

Last district meeting!!! Yes!! Elder Irwin had me give the training. What did I train on? Well... It wasn't really a typical training where I would teach other missionaries how to be better missionaries. I sat in front of everyone. Everyone was in a semicircle around me, and I facilitated a gospel conversation. It was more of a Sunday School lesson. I wrote down how long everyone else had been out on the chalk board and I talked about the things that I was focusing on when I was at their points. I feel like I did 40% of the talking. The other 60% was everyone else. Everyone participated. It was a lot of fun! It was very relaxed too. We talked a lot about studies, humility, obedience, and finding answers to Q's. I didn't plan on talking about any of that. I simply planned to have a gospel conversation, and let the Spirit dictate the subject. 

Not much else happened for the rest of the evening. I dropped my bike off at the postal store. We had 3 appointments for the night. 2 of them fell through and we wound up teaching nothing at the 3rd. The 3rd was the H family. J and A were there. Occasionally they'll get distracted too easily. This time, they were distracted by some YouTuber. It was fun, but nothing was taught. Yup... 

-Saturday-

This was the big 24 month/2 year mark! I didn't know what to think about it. I feel like it came so quickly. But at the same time, it took forever to get here. This was the first day of my 5th General Conference! 

We went to the morning session which was awesome. Then we went to Subway for lunch. Then we went to the afternoon session which was awesome except for the idiots during the sustainings again. Then we had a light dinner with the Diels. Then a brownie and ice cream party with President Penrod, Bro Morgan, and Elder Diel before the priesthood session. Pres Penrod looked haggard. He had worked 14-16 hour shifts every day this week. He's the CEO at the YMCA. He was happy to finally sit down for Priesthood. The priesthood session was awesome! I learned a few things throughout the whole day! I love general conference on the mission. These are some of my favorite days. 

-Sunday-

We had a very simple Sunday. Watching the other two sessions of General Conference was most of what we did. President Penrod was present for both. At the end of the second, he thanked me for serving in Scottsburg and I thanked him for being a good branch president. I've loved serving around him.

The General Conference sessions were fantastic like usual! I learned a good bit. I won't be sending notes home this time. I'm glad I got to finish my mission with conference. I can rest and learn so easily when I'm listening to church leaders. 

After the sessions, I had my last dinner with the Diels. They made potato cheese soup and biscuits. Potato cheese and clam chowder are the most satisfying soups in the world. In was delicious.

I look forward to seeing you all!

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Dabbin!

District Squad pics!

Selfies with Jason Pope, the Emery's guy.

We happened to run into the entire Corydon district at Emery's.

Visiting Sister and Bishop Sodders
(We're about to blow up my suit!)

My shredded navy suit coat.

Bishop Sodders big .50 cal gun. It's quite tall!

My Scottsburg companions, Elder Kloepfer and Elder McIntosh.

Who's Ready for Next Week?

March 27, 2017

Dear Family,

I am! I'm SO ready! This week took forever to go by. There was quite a bit that happened in it. Exchanges, conferences, trunky moments with other missionaries, and lots of food. 

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

This was an awesome P-Day! We went to Clifty Park with the Madison Elders again. We went on a different trail this time but it was very similar to the last one we did. We hiked down to a river that had a lot of rocks and trees. We had to jump and balance on top get to the falls. It was very adventurous! We all had a lot of fun. After the hike, we got some Ale8, hung out with the Madison Elders, and drove back to Scottsburg.

We saw Mr A and read 2 Nephi 4 with him. His brother was there in his room but he didn't want to come out for some reason. Lame...

-Tuesday-

We got the car washed and prepared for Wednesday's Zone conference. Then we went to Bingo and yelled/called letters and numbers at old people again. 

Here's something cool, I think I've mentioned a referral we tried a couple times in the bitter cold by Lake Iola. Well, we finally got in with them. He wanted a Bible. When we delivered the Bible, he started asking us a lot of Q's about the church. We answered them, gave him a BoM, and he invited himself up church. Halfway through the interaction, the cops showed up. They were dealing with one of his kids who was in trouble. That was fun... 

After we left, we found out he was actually a former in the area book. Apparently he became interested again, referred himself to us, and wants to come to church. Cool!

-Wednesday-

My last Zone Conference!!! Woo! Sis Wilde from my home ward was there. We talked for a bit. The conference itself was fun as usual. There were lots and trainings, jokes, and more trainings. A tradition for Zone Conferences is to have departing missionaries bear their testimonies. That means I got to bear mine. That was a weird experience. Through the whole mission you see departing missionaries bear their testimonies and you never really think you'll be there. But I got there. I did it. I don't remember what said. 

Sis Harris, one of the Hanover sisters, was there. I think she's more trunky for me than I am for myself. She reminded my how much longer I have at zone conference like 3 times. She's got 17 months left. 

After the meeting we went to Chick-Fil-A with Elder Haws' district. Of course, I had another trunky moment with Elder Haws. We had like 3 this time around. 

After the food, Elder Irwin and I began my last exchange in Madison. We didn't do much in the evening because Zone Conferences are an all day thing. We got shakes at a nice place in Madison's downtown. 

-Thursday-

In the morning Elder Irwin and I went and helped Bro K build a shed for him. He's building it from a kit. It was the world's cheapest shed. It was bunch of thin metal pieces that you screw together. Apparently he got it for $20 which explains a lot. Half way through that project, he bought us pizza and soda for lunch. After we finished with him, we exchanged back in Scottsburg

The rest of the day was okay. We went to F4RS, served and ate there. Right after we ate, we had dinner with the Spelts. They fed us soup. 

Why did we get two dinners? Because not eating at F4RS offends all the workers there, and the Spelts wanted to feed us. I don't like being forced to eat a lot. 

-Friday-

We helped a LA, Sis J, move for half the day. Thankfully, she's moved really close to us! That means we can attack more easily! It was an easy move. She didn't have a whole lot to move which was nice. Her non-member husband is a heavy smoker and drinker. There were beer cans everywhere and the cigarette smell was quite strong. I think I've mentioned this before, every LA in the mission smokes. So when missionaries work with LA's, they often leave "smelling like smoke." 

Later, we went to a baptism in Salem Indiana. They are a returning LA family. They weren't really coming to church when I first got here but now they're at church every week. They're a cool family. Their 8 year old son was baptized. At the baptism, I got to lead the music and be one of the witnesses. I think I've witnessed at most of the baptisms I've been to on the mission. I like witnessing. 

-Saturday-

Guess what we found out Saturday morning! The Hyde Family's son, "D" and he's our baptismal date, is in jail! Woo! Why is he in jail? Well... he and a couple friends of his thought it would be fun to steal some lady's ladder at 2 or 3 in the morning and climb to the roof of an Auto Zone. He was charged with criminal trespassing and theft. From what I understand, he's going to be on probation when he gets out. Because we can't baptize anyone on probation (unless we get First Presidency approval, but that's like a 4 months process) He won't be getting baptized on the 8th. 

His Dad seems to be taking the whole thing rather well. He's happy D is gaining some learning experiences. He's fed up with D's "I'm 18!" attitude. So yeah, there's another baptismal date gone. 

We visited them and got all the details from them. After we finished talking about D, we read with A like usual. A's 16. Why is he so much more mature than D who's 18? 

We also got in with Ms Ro! Our visit was crazy because her daughters, A and A, were there being noisy. Her family is crazy. I still don't really know what it's going to take to help her. At this point, all we can do is read and pray with her. 

We also saw H & P for the first time in a while. We couldn't teach anything because they were busy painting beehives but we had a good visit with them. They asked us a few Q's about polygamy. Thankfully they were just asking for understanding. They weren't asking to try and tear us down. We explained things and they accepted the answers. Yay!

I hate anti questions. They suck and destroy testimonies. Don't listen to anti! 

-Sunday-

I went to church and had the sacrament for the last time on the mission! Next time I have the sacrament will be in Utah! I gave a talk about service and what I've learned on the mission. I think it went decently well. Pres Penrod said I only needed to take 10 minutes. I think I would up taking 15 or 20 because I had so much to say about everything. The members seemed to enjoy it. 

I gave my testimony at Zone Conference, a talk in my last sacrament meeting, I think I'm giving the training at the upcoming district meeting, and I'll be giving a homecoming talk soon! Lots of public speaking. 

Later that night we had dinner with the Diels again.  They fed us beef, corn, mashed taters, and salad. Their food is always good. It'a nice having them in the branch. 

I finished the night by finishing My Plan, the church's 6 week program for returning missionaries. It's trunktastic!!! It's all about what your plan is for home life. What is my plan? I still don't really know. I have some good ideas. Sis Boettcher said I would make a good counselor/psychologist/therapist-type/person/thing. I probably would like that. I wouldn't be sitting at a desk all day burning my eyes while staring at a computer screen, I wouldn't come home utterly exhausted, and I would get to learn a lot about my new favorite subject, human relations. I love learning about how people work. I'd have fun making a career out of it. 

-> Small Plates <-

Over this last week, I've felt that the mantle of being a missionary has started to depart from me. I am not able to teach or testify like I used to. Even in these small plates, I really don't know what to say. I have been so used to the Spirit giving me the words to speak but that hasn't been happening lately. 

Here's all I can say today in this small plates entry. 

God is our loving and living Heavenly Father. He's prepared a plan that will teach us how to be good and live happily if we accept and live it. 

Jesus Christ is Heavenly Father's son, our older brother. He wants us to be good and live happily like Heavenly Father does. Christ's Atonement makes the whole plan possible. We need to follow Him

Please follow the Savior. Don't leave Him. He wants your happiness more than you do and He knows exactly how to grant it. But it requires effort and obedience on your part. If you follow, you will be given eternal joy. If you don't, you will not receive such joy. You will have chosen to be miserable. 

Please stay. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Look what I found walking out of my apt. It literally vanished a minute later.

Beautiful sunset!

With Sis Wilde from PG

Chillin'

How Far is that Plane?

March 20, 2017

Dear Family,

"How far is that plane?" That's a question that older missionaries ask younger missionaries to tease them about how long they have left. When I was at the beginning of my mission, I was with Elder Koenig on an exchange. We saw a plane and he asked me "How far away do you think that plane is?" I responded with "Oh... probably about 2 or 3 miles." He then said "No, it's about 2 years away." 

We'll now I can ask others that question because I have 2 weeks left! I got my itinerary, or "trunky papers" as most missionaries call them, this week. I'll be talking more about that soon. For the most part, the entire week was uneventful so I probably won't say much about the days. 

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

For the most part this was a very normal and very uneventful P-Day. We did all the normal stuff. It snowed. Yup, it snowed. Not very much, but it did snow. 

As usual we saw the H family. We wanted to teach the brother, D, more but he had a friend over so we worked with A. We had a fun time reading and trying to explain 2 Nephi 3 to him. There's 4 Josephs to keep track of in that chapter. Lehi's son Joseph, old Joseph who was sold into Egypt, Joseph Smith, Senior, and Joseph Smith, Junior. 

The scriptures are hard enough to understand. It doesn't help when everyone has the same name or when the time line takes a crap. i.e. trying to piece together Jarom, Omni, Words of Mormon, and most of Mosiah in chronological order is a headache. 

-Tuesday-

We did something that we haven't done in a while on Tuesday. We walked around in the bitter cold! Yay! I forgot how miserable doing that was. Everything was cold! :D 

We walked to a referral's house who lived about a mile away. Can you guess what happened when we got there? They weren't home! We walked all that way in freezing temperatures. Ah, mission life. :) It's things like this that I'm not going to miss. At least our venture wasn't completely in vain. There was a lovely note on the door of said house that told us what time our referral would be home in the following day. Yay!

-Wednesday-

This was my "21 days left" mark. Woo! We had another weekly planning session. I think I only have 2 more left. Wow! That's crazy! I've done so many of those! 

After the planning we ventured out to that referral we tried the yesterday. Well... He wasn't there again. We called him, which we should have done at the very first, and found out he won't be home for several days. I'll let you know if anything happens with him. 

Later on we drove to some far out places to try peeps. We reconnected with a former who has potential. She hasn't really been taught anything. She wants to look into the church but for the last few months her life has been crazy. That's why she hasn't been taught. But we reconnected with her and now there's a solid chance we'll be working with her soon. 

-Thursday-

We did service for most of Thursday. We did even more service than normal. We had a normal time at the Clearinghouse. Again, they didn't have a whole lot to do for us. Would you like me to tell you about how exciting it is to sort cans?... No?... Okay.

After the Clearinghouse we did some service for Bro P. He was recently hospitalized for the 3rd time. He's out now and recovering. We went to his house to try and clean it up a bit. The crazy storm from a couple weeks ago tore a lot of his trees up. Sticks and logs were everywhere. After 2 hours of work, there was still a lot of work to be done. It was the Diels, the Morgans, and us, who were there. I think we'll be going back on Saturday to gather all the sticks and burn them. 

After that service we went to F4RS. They had good food this time which was nice. Deli sammich's and cheesecake. It's always the same people that come every week. I've noticed that F4RS isn't busy in the beginning of the month but way busy at the end. One of the other volunteers told me that's because everyone runs out of food stamps at the end of the month. 

-Friday-

Had my 2nd to last district meeting. Sis. Harris has become my District trunky friend. Elder Haws is my Zone trunky friend. Sis Harris reminded me how little time I had left. She's excited for me. I don't know why because she has 17 months left. She just barely came out. The Zone Leaders were there. Elder Passmore is one of them. It was fun seeing him. 

After the meeting we went to Smokin Crows BBQ for lunch. Man, that place is good! I got a little chicken sammich, a little pork sammich, and a little brisket sammich. The brisket was amazing! It was so good! I'm going to miss good BBQ when I get home. 

The rest of the day was... normal... Yup...

-Saturday-

I got my flight plans on Saturday morning. It's difficult to describe the feeling I had as I stared at the little envelope in the mailbox, picked it up, opened it, and read it. Happy to be leaving, sad to be leaving, excited to be leaving, scared to be leaving, and everything in between. I didn't think my papers would come so soon! I remember when my trainer got his papers. That doesn't seem too long ago. 

Later in the day we went to some more far out places in the area to try people. We tried Miss B, but she wasn't home. Her dad was, so we talked with him for a minute. He recently dislocated his thumb and he works on semi trucks for a living.

-Sunday-

I went to church! Elder McIntosh gave a nice talk about the armor of God. I had a trunky moment with President Penrod. He's become my Branch trunky buddy. He informed me that I'll be giving a talk next Sunday for my last normal sacrament meeting on the mission. He wants me to talk about service and the things I've learned on the mission. Yay!

At the end of the day we saw Ms Ro. We actually had a good visit with her. It was more of an open, casual visit. We read with her and talked about how we can help her daughter. She likes talking about ways to help her. I feel like Ms Ro progressed a bit. That's good!

-> Small Plates <-

I'm still reading the BoM. I'm almost done with Alma. As fun as the war chapters are, they're a little difficult to get through. Anyway, I'm not even going to talk about the war chapters. I'm working on my "Words of Wisdom," which is the advice every departing missionary gives to the other missionaries before leaving... 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

New Albany Zone Conference

Lunch!

P-day hike

Dabbin'

Clifty Falls

Tall Waterfall

Painting!!!

March 13, 2017

Dear Family,

Oh boy! Here we go again with another weekly email! Yay! Woo! I don't have to write many more of these! That makes me happy and sad at the same time. Sad, because I enjoy telling you about my week, all the adventures I had, some cool things I learned, and how cool the gospel is! Happy, because writing these things is an ordeal. By the time I finish an email my brain is fried. 

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

Breakfast, emailing, My Plan (the church's program for returning missionaries), clothes, shopping, cleaning, napping, etc. Elder McIntosh got a haircut from Bro Sebastion. He gave us some nice aftershave. It smells great but it hurts to put on. 😁

This was a rare P-Day where we didn't see the H family. They were busy with something. We made quick visits to Sis Shultz and Bro L. His roof actually came completely off in last week's storm. His trailer literally had a tarp for a roof. (reason #234 why not to live in a trailer: Storms destroy them.) 

-Tuesday-

Elder McIntosh's friend from Greenville, Bro D, came and spent the day with us. He bought us paint supplies and we spent the whole day painting the apartment. We only got the front room done. All those marks that have been left by previous missionaries have disappeared now. He took us to Waffle House for breakfast, and Sonic and KFC for dinner. 

You'd be so proud of me painting! 🙂

-Wednesday-

We had interviews with the Broughs again. This was my last normal interviews on the mission. My next interview is going to be my departing interview where President Brough will tell me to get married. 

Later we saw Sis S. We read just a few verses out of D&C with her. I'm not sure what to do to help her anymore. All the LA's in Scottsburg have been a lot harder to deal with. I don't know what it is. Nothing we're trying is working.

If someone isn't willing to act on their own, they're not going to be converted. Investigators, less actives, members, missionaries, everyone. Action is key to gaining a testimony.

Later we saw the H family. The older son isn't a member. He just came through some rough trials this last weekend. He sort of hit rock bottom and is looking for light now. His heart has been broken, and his spirit contrite. Prefect for the gospel! 😀 We spoke with him and he asked a ton of questions. So much so, that we taught all of L1 and half of L2 just from the answers we were giving. It was a fun teaching exercise for us, and a great faith building experience for him. I feel like he has a good chance now. It would be awesome to get him baptized. He's the last member of the H family who's not a member. Getting him baptized would do a lot of good in the branch. 

-Thursday-

We had my last zone meeting on the mission! Elder Passmore is one of the new ZL's. It was fun seeing him train. I had a trunky moment with Elder Hopkins, the guy who gave me a blessing after my bike accident. He said "Hey, Cox! Maybe we'll go whitewash an area next transfer!" I told him "Um... We're not going to be whitewashing." He asked "Why not?" I told him I was leaving in 3 weeks. He didn't realize I had been out for as long as I have. I also had a trunky moment with Elder Jolly. He's one of the previous ZL's and he's going home with my group. I had another extremely trunky moment with Elder Haws. He goes home 3 months after me. Elder Haws is another one of my previous ZL's. 

When we got home, we found out we weren't supposed to paint without permission.... yeah... We made some calls. We're supposed to be getting new paint from the maintenance guy at the beginning of the week to complete and "fix" the apartment. Why did we paint in the first place? The walls were awful. That's why. I wanted to paint but I wasn't about to go buy paint. I was thinking I was never going to paint the place. Until Bro D bought paint for us. Then we just went ahead and did it like I would back home. At least we only did half the apartment so re-painting the half we did shouldn't be too bad at all. 

(reason #812 why not to live in an apartment: You need permission for everything!)

(reason #125 why not to live in an apartment: Drums are not allowed.)

We finished the night off with some service at F4RS (Food 4 R Souls). Speaking of service, President Brough showed me an awesome scripture about service a few weeks ago. 

D&C 35:12 "And there are none that doeth good except those who are ready to receive the fulness of my gospel, which I have sent forth unto this generation."

The President pointed out how the people we do service with, those who are doing good, are those who are prepared for the gospel. As true as that is, it's a little difficult to find teaching opportunities in other churches (F4RS is at another church). We'll see what happens. 

That reminds me, there's a man in our area named Mr T who we've only spoken with a couple times over the phone. Apparently, he got his hands on the BoM, has been reading it, and wants to come to church and speak with us. His work schedule is crazy, so we don't have an appointment with him now, but we'll see what happens with that in the future. 

-Friday-

Not much happened on Friday. The highlight of the day was teaching the oldest son of the H family. We reviewed the first half of L2 and extended a baptismal invitation. He accepted! Woo! First baptismal date in a long time! This time his dad, was there. He helped us teach. As with all baptismal dates, I always worry about a person being ready or not. We'll do what we can to make sure he's ready. It's date is for April 8th so I won't be here. 

-Saturday-

Saturday was rough too. Throughout my whole mission, for every good thing that happens, there's a bad thing to even it out. I guess getting a baptismal date was an extremely good thing because everything else has died. We have had a much harder time getting in with people lately. Investigators and less actives. 

We visited Bro B. He's the old guy who's not completely there. We watched a video with him and discussed charity. The visit went about as good as it could have gone. He usually forgets what subject we're on. 

Later, we were supposed to see Ms Ro but she fell though. She told us she had the flu. She gets sick a lot. 

On a positive note, I got some adorable notes from Little Miss and Miss Gunnell! There's an Elder Gunnell in the mission. I wonder if they're related. 

-Sunday-

Sunday was another down day. 3 down days in a row. We went to church. Sis Charley and Sis Roush spoke in Sacrament. They did good jobs. No one came for gospel principles so we went to Sunday school. In Elders Quorum, it was just us and the Elders quorum president, Bro Banda. We basically had a coordination meeting with Bro Banda since the mission leader, Bro Ponder, is in the hospital for the 3rd time. Bro Banda gave us a nice short message on pioneers. The pioneers were some of the most powerful examples of faith that you can look to. 

-> Small Plates <-

This week in my BoM reading (I'm up to Alma 20), I noticed how many times it uses the phrase "thoughts of the heart" or other similar variations. The scriptures use the heart in a lot of things. The phrase "thoughts of the heart" stood out to me because when I read that, I thought "Wait... hearts don't think..." 

Well, hearts don't think. So what did that phrase mean? Consider what the heart is to the body. It's one of the most vital organs. If the heart fails, the whole body fails with it. It never stops working. It's always going. Constant and vital are how I would describe a heart. 

So what does "thoughts of the heart" mean? Well, this is a phrase that refers to the thoughts, ideas, personality traits, beliefs, etc. that define each person. Their core or their "heart". In other words, your "thoughts of the heart" are who you are. 

"Thoughts of the heart" deals with the mind, not the actual heart, because hearts don't think. Our minds do. So what do you hold at the heart of your mind? School? Work? Your family? The gospel? All of these? None of these? Something else entirely?

The gospel can have a powerful effect on someone because it can change the "thoughts of the heart", the core of who they are by teaching them their true relationship with God and the purpose of following Christ, but it can only do that if someone lets it. 

Anyway, this is a fun thought I had this week. 😁

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Painting!

Used a square brush for edging

This is my companion.

Us... the Two Nerfites!

Tulip knots

Trunked

March 6, 2017

Dear Family,

Yeah, you read that correctly. I'm trunked. I hit 23 months this week. Elder McIntosh hits 12. I have like 4 weeks left. 

Oh my... I've been doing this for so long!

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

I think I've got 3 more P-Day's left. That's crazy! Speaking of that, I've been on my mission for so long that I'm finding it difficult to remember my home life. I barely remember... well... basically, everything. 

Is there a life after the mission?

This was a very relaxed and very normal P-Day. Emailed, shopped, cleaned, and saw the H family. One highlight, though a small one, is I found out that Febreeze makes Gain-scented plug-in air fresheners! I was so happy to find those! They were really expensive but worth it. Now our apartment smells like Gain! 😁

At the H family, we watched some older church videos. Neither of them were feeling well. One slept through half of everything. Oh well. It was good seeing them. 

-Tuesday-

Tuesday was something. A bad something. It rained off and on through the day. Like usual, we called bingo again. The nursing home was celebrating Mardi Gras. It wasn't as crazy as Valentines Day though. Elder Diel invited some of the residents to come to church. What was funny about that was how casual about it he was. "Do you go to church?" "Yes." "Have you ever been to our church?" "No." "Services start at 10. Do you wanna come?" etc. No one wanted to come. 

Later, we wound up in Crothersville. We got in contact with a less active part-member family, did some tracting, and meet some nice people. No new investigators, but at least we had some positive interactions. 

-Wednesday-

We got little sleep Tuesday night/Wednesday morning because there was a MASSIVE tornado storm that lasted most of the night. It was loud. Lots of thunder and lots of hail. Later in the day we saw that several people's trailers were damaged/destroyed. There were a few large trees that were ripped from the roots and thrown on some houses. Overall, the damage wasn't too bad, but there are some people who were probably hating life after that storm. 

We were finally able to teach Miss B for the first time in forever! We taught her about obedience, praying often, and studying the scriptures. The lesson went really well. She had good answers to our questions and she retained a lot of what we said. 

Yeah that's about it for Wednesday. Oh! Wait! There's one more thing! I hit 23 months on Wednesday! I feel like I just barely hit 22 and now I'm already at 23! It's March! Because of the extension, I'm coming home on April 5th and that also means I'll hit my 2 year mark on the mission. Elder McIntosh hit his year mark this week. Soon, I'll hit my 2 year mark. I almost feel bad for McIntosh. Almost 😉. 

...I'm so trunky... 

-Thursday-

The Clearinghouse isn't open on the first Thursday of the month but we and the Diels forgot that and went anyway. We didn't get in but because we were all together, we didn't just go home. The Diels took us to the "Goat Milk Stuff" place in town. GMS is a small business owned and operated by a family. They specialize in making things out of goat milk: Soaps, shampoos, fudge, lip balm, etc. I bought some soap and tried their fudge. The fudge was super-chocolatey and the soap is very soapy.

Like usual we went to F4RS (Food 4 R Souls) and served there.

-Friday-

Another district meeting in Madison! Woo! I don't have many more to go to! Irwin trained on studies. It's been a while since I've had a good study training. After the meeting we went to the Downtowner and I got a turkey sammich and a crab asparagus soup. 

Yes, I order a crab asparagus soup. It was good! 

Elder Diel did more casual missionary work with some of the people who were sitting next to us. It's cool to see the senior missionaries do missionary work because they tend to be a lot better at it. They know how people work better than most other people do. 

After lunch we started my 2nd-to-last exchange on the mission. I took Elder Stucki to Scottsburg. Stucki's been out for about 8 months. Not much happened in the first part of the exchange but later on we saw Sis S and the H family again. 

With Sis S, we just answered some of her Q's on becoming gods. It only took a couple scriptures to answer her questions. That was about it for this visit. 

With the H family, we watched "The Refiners Fire." One of their son's, who isn't a member, has been going through some stuff lately. So we watched that video with them and discussed trials. The dad is worried about his son. 

-Saturday-

We exchanged back early in the morning. 

In the middle of the day we found ourselves working in Austin again. Along the way, this stray dog started following us. It followed us for over a mile. It was a nice dog. It wasn't aggressive at all.

The highlight of Saturday was finally being able to see H & P again. They're the couple we taught a few weeks ago who are super family-oriented. This time, we were able to teach them a full first lesson. We answered their Q's and increased their interest to read the BoM. They told us some of the ghost stories they've had and they let us borrow their 1930's KJV Bible to look over. Pretty cool! They're also the ones who gave us the farm fresh eggs not too long ago. 

-Sunday-

Went to church! Miss B finally came. It's been a while since she's come. It was good seeing her. After church we had another episode of "Dinner with the Diels." Every time we go over they tell us story after story about their adventures in the Philippines. This time they told us about the giant spiders they had that took care of the cockroaches. Apparently, house spiders in the Philippines are a lot bigger than house spiders here. 

Later, we saw Ms Ro and gave her the "Come, Follow Me" book. We started studying out of it with her. This last week was the first week for that book. I studied the first chapter myself as part of my studies and actually got a lot out of it. I hope she studies it on her own. 

-> Small Plates <-

Here's something I've been thinking about lately. 

We can learn A LOT from the examples in the scriptures. We can learn a lot from the good examples and we can surprisingly learn a lot from the bad examples too. 

So, for example, as I read about Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel in my recent BoM reading, I noticed something about examples. Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel are about as opposite of each other as possible. Nephi is good. Laman and Lemuel are bad. None of those 3 are in the middle somewhere. They're all either black or white. No one's gray. 

What I noticed is that the scriptures are full of things where both extremes are present. Good and bad. I already mentioned Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel. I just finished reading about King Noah and Abinadi this week. Same thing. Black and white. No one's gray or in the middle somewhere. Probably the biggest and most often used example of this is Heavenly Father and Satan. 

What's interesting is that the scriptures teach us how we should be by giving us good examples like Nephi, Alma, Abinadi, Jesus, etc. but they also give us examples of how we shouldn't be with people like Laman, Lemuel, King Noah, Pharisees, Sadducees, etc. 

I honestly can't think of any characters in the scriptures that are in the middle. Gray. Some people go from bad to good or good to bad but no one stays in the middle. 

This idea of examples led me to another interesting thought. Nephi probably learned a lot about the gospel from Laman and Lemuel. How could that happen? Well, if Nephi looked to his brothers as examples of what not to be, then he would have pushed himself to seek the light, or the good, and follow it. 

A lot of Nephi's words are worded in a way that seems like he's writing to his brothers. As terrible as Laman and Lemuel were, Nephi still cared for them and wanted to help them. Nephi's words don't just come from revelation. They come from revelation and experience. And I've learned that all the prophets have worked the same way. Their words come from experience. Listen to them. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Fancy soap made from goat milk

It's very soapy.

The Resurrection Knot and Elder McIntosh.
This is the hardest knot I know.

This stray dog followed us for over a mile.

He was a nice dog.

P-day at the Diels.

This is a Tulip Knot.

Counselors of the Lord

February 27, 2017

Dear Family,

The title comes from something we do on an almost daily basis. We basically counsel people. A lot. We sit down with them, listen to them, and try to help them by teaching whatever aspects of the Gospel they need to hear. 

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

This P-Day was easily the best P-Day I've had here. We went to Madison and hiked Clifty Falls with the Madison elders. It wasn't a typical hike. The first bit was a nice decline on well-worn trails down to a stream. Then we had to walk along all the rocks along the stream. We even had to cross the stream multiple times on little rocks. The part before the falls themselves was the most intense. All trails disappeared. The one way to get to the falls was to jump and climb over multiple large rocks and dead trees. It was a lot of fun!

-Tuesday-

This was where Elder Kloepfer left and Elder McIntosh came. The Diels drove us down to the Eastern Parkway building. While I was waiting for Elder McIntosh, I talked with a lot of the people I knew. I managed to see Sis Wilde there. We didn't get to talk much. I at least got to say "hi." When Elder McIntosh came, we shipped out. 

Elder McIntosh, my new companion, is a cool guy. He's a convert to the church of about 3 years. He's very relaxed like me and we like a lot of the same music :). This last transfer should be an easy one. After he got settled in, we called bingo at the nursing home. This time, I got to call out the numbers and deal with the bingo cards while Elder McIntosh helped Mary. Later, we visited Bro L and the H family. They enjoyed meeting the new guy. 

-Wednesday-

Elder McIntosh got to meet Ms Ro for the first time. We had a better than average visit with her. We read Mosiah 10 and had a good discussion on scripture study. Everything was going well until her daughter came in. She is... well... not very helpful. She contributes to a lot of Ms Ro's stress. 

Later on, we did some biking in 65 degree weather. This week had some very warm days and some very cold days. On our bike trip, we biked by Ms M's house. Her house is a duplex. She lives in the left side. Mr D, our investigator lives in the right side. As we biked by we happened to catch all of them outside. It was crazy. They all wanted to meet Edler McIntosh. 

-Thursday-

We did a lot of service. All the usual Thursday service stuff. The Clearinghouse in the morning was quite busy. They had a lot more donations than they knew what to do with. Food 4 R Souls in the evening was the opposite. Hardly anyone showed up. 

After all the service, we visited Jo and Sis S. We had a good visit with Jo but we decided with him that it would be best if we gave him a break to read, ponder, and pray. He's a good kid with a desire to repent but his desire hasn't grown into action yet. We'll be seeing him again in about a month. 

Sis S wasn't having a good day. A lot was happening. We read Ether 12 with her and talked with her. She became a lot happier after the conversation. I feel like God uses us as counselors frequently. We go to people, listen to them talk about what's bothering them, then we'll teach them something that will help them, or read something that will help them, or both. Usually by the time we finish, the people we meet are a lot happier. 

We tried to meet with H & P but they were busy. They gave us some of their farm fresh eggs though. I've already had a few of them. They're pretty good! The yolk is a lot darker than store bought eggs. 

-Friday-

This was a fun day. We had a good district meeting in Madison, IN. Elder Irwin trained on commitments and why we ask people to do things. The answer is simple. People have to search out the truth for themselves. They need personal experiences that come from their actions. Commitments are a way of getting people to act on their own. If someone doesn't act on their own, conversion won't take place. 

Later, we saw Ms Ro again. This time the first few minutes were awful but Sis Morgan showed up, sat in on the lesson, and helped turn the whole thing around. It wound up being a great visit. 

We had dinner with the Bandas. Bro Banda likes fancy tie knots. He showed me how to tie Tulip and Resurrection knots. Tulips are easy. Resurrections are now the most difficult knot I know how to do. I'll have to send pics. 

We finished the night with Mr H. He wasn't having a good day also. We talked with him, read with him, and turned his evening around. There we go being counselors again. 

-Saturday-

This was an odd day. There isn't a whole lot to tell about it. We tried to reassemble a broken exercise machine. We visited an old less-active who likes politics too much. We saw Mr K in his tattoo shop. It's impossible to teach about the gospel in a tattoo shop. Yeah... 

Here's a highlight. Bro Dickenson and Bro Smith from the Greenville, KY ward came to visit Elder McIntosh. Greenville was McIntosh's previous area. Bro Dickenson and Bro Smith are mission-famous for being friends of the missionaries. Similarly to Sis Robinson (everyone knows her as "Grandma") or Sis Blackwell. They loved Elder McIntosh so they wanted to come visit. And they wanted to bring a lot of his stuff he left in the Greenville apartment. They were planning on Monday but something popped up preventing that. So they came Saturday night. They took us out to Burger King. They're are both converts to the church. 

-Sunday-

They stayed the night in a motel so they could come to church with us. The church services themselves were pretty normal. Have I mentioned that the Scottsburg branch has a modified 2.5 hour service instead of 3 hours? I'm honestly not sure why that is. I've heard it's because a lot of the members here don't like 3 hours. After church, they started the long drive back to Greenville. 

We had a late lunch/early dinner with the Diels. They fed us a beef stew. It was quite satisfying. We finished the night visiting Sis S for a bit. She was busy with Girls Scout things so she couldn't talk much. She gave us free cookies! 

-> Small Plates <-

I've been doing my 6 chapter a day Book of Mormon study. It's been very interesting going through it that quickly. I read almost 100 pages last week. What's interesting is that it's almost like a review of everything I've learned on my mission. Whatever subject the verses I'm reading are on, I remember my experiences of learning about that subject. 

I also remember verses or insights that have stood out to me in the past. i.e. Laman and Lemuel being bums because they "knew not God" and were "past feeling". Or how the Liahona working according to faith AND diligence. Or the awesome description of Christ found in 2 Nephi 1 (Lehi uses some very Christlike terms to describe Nephi towards the end of the chapter. I'd highly recommend reading that.) I've also reviewed my knowledge of the laws of justice and mercy in 2 Nephi 9.

You might be wondering, "what's the spiritual thought here?" Well, to be honest, I don't know entirely myself. There wasn't really anything I read out of the BoM this week that opened my understanding like the laws of justice and mercy did or the description of the Atonement in Alma 7:11-13: 
11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. 
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. 
13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

I guess, what I got out of the BoM this week was an increased testimony of it. There's no way it's not true or fake. It's honestly illogical to believe it's not true. The doctrines in the BoM work too well to be untrue. 

For those who deny it, you have no idea what blessings you're denying yourself. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

My new companion is Elder McIntosh.
(How do you like the Trinity knot?)

New District