Injured and Sick

November 21, 2016

Dear Family,

This week was rather hard. I was recovering from by bike accident and got sick on top of that. I felt pretty crummy for most of the week. We still had quite a bit that happened. We did a lot of service. More service. And more service. We had a zone conference in E-Town. Taught one of Hoole's LA friends. Had another day off. And we attended a baptism. 

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

Another normal P-Day. We spent the whole day in the church. Everyone else in the district is down with something. Another Elder got into a bike accident too. His arm was almost broken. 

Later on we visited our baptist friends. They gave us pizza and Ice drinks. I'm starting to really like Ice drinks. 

-Tuesday-

We started off early with service with the lady who's in charge of the food kitchen at the Methodist church. We go to her house occasionally to help her. We did some simple raking. Their leaf blower wouldn't work. When we finished she fed us shrimp linguini. It was so good! 

After that we did our studies. Then we went around trying people. I had to take some time off at the church because I wasn't feeling well. We tried Mr R but he didn't answer. He's been avoiding us lately. 

-Wednesday-

Service day. I felt pretty miserable throughout it. At ReStore I helped a lot of customers move stuff. I also helped clean a bunch of cabinets someone donated. 

After service we had a district Skype call and I got to give a 5 minute talk/training on how faith, hope, and charity relate to each other. It went really well :).  

At the Methodist church we helped make a lot of grilled cheeses. I felt way out of it as we helped. When service ended I called the night a little early because I was feeling bad. 

-Thursday-

We had Zone Conference in Elizabethtown. President Brough came and gave some great trainings on expectations. The Zone Leaders had a fun BoM training that involved a lot role plays. It was one of the best meetings I've had in a long time. 

The meeting was 7 hours long. It took a while to get home too. Traffic on Louisville's on and off ramps is horrible. Whoever designed Louisville's streets didn't know what they were doing. They had to have been out of their mind. 

When we got home we biked to the church to prepare for a lesson with one of Elder Hoole's less-active friends. With Skype comes the possibility to teach people over the Internet. And with President's permission, that includes your friends and family. Hoole's friend has been a member her whole life. She's LA now. We don't know why. Something to do with her father. We reviewed the Plan of Salvation with her and it went really well. She knew everything except the Atonement. I thought it was odd she knew everything except the most important part. 

-Friday-

We spent most of the day in service clothes. We started off helping a family move stuff out of their car into their basement. After that they took us to an Asian buffet for lunch. Dad's Asian food has ruined me for other Asian foods. Americanized Asian food doesn't taste as good as authentic Asian food. 

After lunch we did our weekly planning. I had to Skype Indian Trails again for bike maintenance. I'm becoming the districts "bike guy". 

We then proceeded to help Bro. Filbert move out of his apartment. It only took us 25 minutes because he didn't have much stuff. It was an easy move. 

When we got back to the apartment we noticed our neighbor outside with his bike. It was squeaking badly. We offered to service it and he accepted. We lubed about everything possible, fixed the brakes, and adjusted the derailleur's. That bike needed help badly. He gave us pork n' beans, and deer bacon to pay us for the service. 

We finished the day with a brief visit to Mr Ch.

-Saturday-

I had to take another Saturday off. This was definitely the worst day. Whatever I had, it got worse the colder I got. It was freezing outside so every time I stepped out, I would start to feel exhausted but when I stepped in the warm apartment, I'd feel fine. I took a long nap. That was nice. 

Elder Hoole cooked up the deer bacon and warmed up the pork n' beans for dinner. The deer bacon was amazing! I even had some pineapple to go with it :). 

-Sunday-

Went to church. On the way to church we met an Indian guy who wanted a selfie with us before he went back to India. He said he was visiting family and was about to go home. He was a nice guy. 

Church was good as usual. We had lunch and studies after. 

We had to go back to the church later on for a baptism. It went well. After the service I felt noticeably better. It was almost like the baptism physically healed me. 

After the service we hauled down to the Hall's house for dinner. They fed us an interesting sausage, potato, and kale soup. It was pretty good. I never had anything like that before. I've heard kale is super good for you so maybe that'll help me heal further. Bro. Hall drove us home in his truck. 

-> Small Plates <-

So I've been reading Job lately. I only have 5 chapters left. I had a pretty strong impression in the middle of the week to read it. I already knew the general story but I never read through the book before. It is a fantastic read. It's helped me learn a lot more about the purpose of trials. 

To keep this through short... Trials are not necessarily punishments like a lot of people are led to believe. Trials are a way of helping us grow. If we understand the purpose of them, we are humbled instead of hardened. I would encourage everyone reading this to take a second look at their trials and try to see the good that can come from them. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Hey ya'll!

Deer bacon is good!

Elder Hoole

Zone Conference

Adventure Week

November 14, 2016

Dear Family,

This was one of the most diverse weeks I've had on the mission. It had just about everything to it. Adventures in Downtown Louisville, tour guides who want to come to church, teaching a Methodist about family history, moving, service, Red Lobster, exchanges, candy, Catholics, interviews, a bike wreck, a day off, pizza, soda, church, leisurely bike rides, and dinner with the Loves. Get the details below... :D

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

This was the best P-Day I've had in Hurstbourne. A lady, Ms Kit from the Methodist church took us and the sisters to Downtown Louisville to check it out. She wanted to do this as a way of saying thanks for all the help we've given to the Methodist church. 

We started off at the Slugger Museum and Factory. They had a couple Ripley's Believe It or Not exhibits. The tour of the bat factory was interesting. It was cool to see how they make the bats. They showed us the old way they used to make bats and the new way they make bats now. They also showed us the different kinds of bats and how they're made. They gave us mini sluggers at the end of the tour. 

At the end of the tour our tour guide came up to us, asked if we were Mormon, and said she'd been wanting to attend one of our church's for a long time. We got her contact info and wound up handing her to the AP's because she's in their area. 

After the Slugger museum we went to the Science Center. It was a lot like the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake. They had a lot of different science things. They had these huge things of "Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty" that were magnetic. 

As Ms Kit drove us to downtown, she wanted us to explain to her why we have a huge emphasis on Family History work. We taught her about families, temples, and baptisms for the dead. She really liked the explanation. 

It was nice to do some missionary work throughout the day. 

-Tuesday-

Tuesday was pretty bland. We helped the Love family move into their new apartment. The move was pretty easy. They didn't have much stuff and we had a lot of help. After the move, Brother Love took us to Penn Station. Penn Station is a sub sandwich shop that specializes in "east coast subs". They're pretty messy but they're really good!

-Wednesday-

Went to ReStore again and spent the whole time moving Christmas stuff from upstairs to downstairs. 

Later on we briefly visited Mr Ch. It was his 23rd birthday. We're basically his only friends so he really appreciated our visit. 

After we went to the Methodist church for a few hours like usual. We helped serve breakfast for dinner again. That seems to be a common thing they do.  

After the Methodist church we were supposed to go to Texas Roadhouse with the ReStore group but Texas Roadhouse was slammed. So we went to the Red Lobster that was right across the street :). That was the first time I had been to Red Lobster on my mission! I wasn't terribly hungry so I just got Clam Chowder. It was still amazing though!

-Thursday-

Elder Lesh and I went on an exchange here in Hurstbourne. We did a lot of biking! I want to say we got close to 30 miles. We easily broke 20. There was a lot that happened. It was a good exchange. 

We started off trying a potential named Ms Cox. She's good friends with a member in the ward. When we knocked, her son answered and told us she wasn't home. We asked him if he'd like a message and we wound up teaching him the whole first lesson in his front yard. It was a good lesson too. He easily accepted a baptismal date. According to the ward member, she loves the missionaries but doesn't want to commit to the church. Maybe her son being taught will open up doors to his mom. 

Later on Elder Lesh and I taught someone named Ms Ma. She's a referral from the Northside Elders (Passmore and Winward). She said she's not looking for a new church home but wants to learn more about our church. She grew up Catholic, then became Baptist, and is now back to Catholic because of her husband. He's a "die-hard blind-faith Catholic" as he puts it. She and her husband are super nice. They're funny too! They both asked us a bunch of questions, not to try to tear down our faith but to learn. We wound up covering the whole restoration. She committed to reading the BoM. We know what'll happen if she reads it and prays about it :). 

At the end of the lesson, they dumped their remaining Halloween candy in my bag. I got about 100 starbursts out of them :). They also gave me an Ale8. Ale8 is a Kentucky soda. It tastes like ginger ale. 

-Friday-

Well, Friday was quite the day. We started off at interviews with President Brough. My interview went extremely well. After interviews we spent some time doing our normal routine of finding people to teach. 

We were on our way to an appointment with Mr R when... I sort of wrecked my bike... badly. I'm not even sure what happened. We were biking at our normal speed when my front tire clipped Elder Hoole's back tire and somehow that sent me flying over my handlebars. My head hit the ground first and it hit hard. I think I rolled twice on the ground with my legs tangled in the front handlebars before I stopped. I just laid there for a few moments so I could gather what had just happened. 

Both my front and rear reflectors broke off. My headlight was ripped out of its base. Both of my rims were slightly bent and my shifters were scratched. I honestly have to give my bike credit. An accident like that and nothing major broke. Even the rims stayed mostly true. 

As far as my body goes. I was in pretty bad shock for about 15 minutes after the accident. I got a little road rash on my face and wrist. I sprained my wrist. I basically bruised my entire body. I felt like I was beat up. 

Elders Salazar and Thorp got me and took me to an urgent care. I was looked over and the doctor didn't see any signs of concussion or other serious brain injuries. They gave me a wrist brace and a list of symptoms to look out for. Salazar and Thorp took me home. 

There's a lot more to Friday night than that but if I wrote everything it would be just as long as this email itself. One funny thing that happened was right after the accident, this lady pulled up who happened to be a professional psychologist. She demanded that I get checked out. As she was talking to me, a less-active from a neighboring ward came up and offered a ride. The Lord was looking out for me :). 

-Saturday-

I took Saturday off for the most part. We had coordination in the morning. We walked to the church. My body is spending most of its energy on healing so I was pretty tired after the walk to the church. The coordination meeting was pretty good. Afterwards Brother Haws took us to Gilberto's and bought us some breakfast burritos. Their breakfast burritos are huge! After Gilberto's, Brother Haws drove us home. 

I took 3 naps throughout the day. I looked over my bike and fixed what I could. I also cleaned/detailed it and lubed it. I still need to take my bike rims to get trued. I'm still surprised they're not bent worse. You wouldn't notice the bend unless you were OCD about it like me :). 

The Sisters felt bad for me so they brought by some Reese's Sticks. My favorite Reese's candy! They're like Reese's and Kit Kat had a baby! They're so good! Mom and Dad also bought me some pizza and sent it to me! I ate really well throughout Saturday! 

-Sunday-

We had a solid church service. Mr R came but left early because he didn't like it. Later on we just biked around our neighborhood slowly to do some missionary work. We met some good people. No potentials though. 

We finished our Sunday night with dinner at the Love's. They fed us "the best mac n' cheese ever." We called Mr R and talked to him over the phone. We luckily resolved his concerns and he agreed to have us visit more and come to church again. 

-> Small Plates <-

This was one of those weeks were I look back and see many ways where the Savior was looking out for me. The most significant example is, of course, the bike wreck. As many things that I hurt, my head, my wrist, and all the other places I brushed, I had no damage on my neck. With how hard my head hit the ground you'd think I would have hurt my neck too but I didn't. I didn't even get a headache afterwards. I can't explain that. 

No headache, and no neck injuries. There's no way the Savior didn't protect me with how hard I hit the ground. That wreck could have been much worse, and it should have been. But it wasn't. The worst effects from it were shock, brushes, and a sprain. And damaged clothing and a damaged bike :).  This accident helped me see how much the Savior needs me out here. He needs everyone he can get. Even though the mission has a lot of trials to it, I'm going to do what I've always done. I'm going to keep trying until I'm done. 

-> Closing Remarks <-

Life's hard. Wear a helmet.

I am healing well. Every day gets a little better. I seem to be recovering rather quickly. Thanks to everyone who's prayed for me and given me support. I really appreciate all of it. You're all the best!

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Sister Acker, Sister Williams and Elder Hoole

Ohio River

River Front panorama 

Closer view

Louisville, KY

Louisville Slugger Factory was cool!

Science Museum

Captain America

Captain America Elders and Iron Woman Sisters

Mini-slugger

Group hug!

At Red Lobster with Elder Hoole & Salazar

Having fun with Elder Lesh

Cool!

Nice!

Wrist brace

Minor road rash

Look at what I got!

The Law

November 7, 2016

Dear Family,

You may be wondering why this email is titled "The Law". Don't worry, I didn't get in trouble with any police or anything. However, I did get a chance to teach the most awkward/detailed Law of Chastity lesson this week. Overall this was actually a really good week. Probably the best week I've had here in Hurstbourne so far. Get the details below... :)

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

#HappyHalloween. We got the whole day off! It was awesome! I got some much needed rest. We started off at Krispy Kreme like usual :). Then we went to the church and played basketball for hours. Towards the end of the day everyone left and it was just us in the church. We spent the night watching random church movies. 

-Tuesday-

This was the day I hit 19 months! I can't believe I've been out for that long! The next month is the big 20! What?! We started the day by teaching Mr R. The bike ride to his place was insane! We almost got hit by 2 cars and a garbage truck! 

When we got to his house, we taught him a very custom first lesson. It went extremely well. He flat out told us he felt the Spirit as we were talking about Joseph Smith. He said he feels like that was true. I've never had an investigator tell me that before! 

After, we biked to the post office to pick up a package! Thank you family! When we got back to the apartment we found an industrial staple in Elder Hoole's back tire. We're still not sure how that got there. Of course, we had to change the tube again. 

Once everything was fixed we went back out and had a rather successful day. Everyone we talked with was abnormally nice. It was weird honestly! We got like 5 actual potentials and gave out 2 BoM's! 

We finished the day with a dinner with the Simmonds family. They just barely had their second kid. They fed us a great dinner. It didn't hurt they had a lot of soda :). We taught them this new Facebook lesson plan Elder Hoole and I developed and they enjoyed it. Hopefully that act on the simple invitation to post gospel things to their pages. 

-Wednesday-

Went to ReStore and sorted doors the whole time. For some reason, people donate and buy a lot of doors. I don't know where they all come from or where they all go. 

Later on we shared a message out of Matthew with Mr Ch, the less-active gamer. I'll detail that message in the small plates :). 

After Mr Ch, we went to serve at the Methodist church. While we were there we cut up 10 lbs. of potatoes. After our service we had dinner with the Campbells. We gave them the same Facebook lesson we gave the Simmonds and they also really liked it. We're probably going to teach this lesson a hundred times before we get through everyone in the ward. 

We went in a little early because Elder Hoole's diabetes (dah-uh-bee-dus as Kentuckians pronounce it) was acting up. 

-Thursday-

We had a zone meeting in Elizabethtown. We had some funny role plays there. The Zone Leaders gave an interesting training on "Mission Culture". I won't go into specifics here because it would take me forever but there's a lot of issues with the mission's "culture" that we're addressed. 

After the meeting I went on an exchange to the Indian Trials area with Elder Robbins. We had a good day together. For the most part we just biked around and tried people. I got to ride around on Elder Lesh's double suspended mountain bike. It was fun to bounce around on that thing :). 

At the end of the day we met with Mr S. He was the guy who I met last time I was in the Indian Trials area. He was the guy President Brough interviewed. Since then he's been baptized and had received some of the new member lessons. The lesson Elder Robbins and I taught him was the Law of Chastity. I won't mention much, but this lesson was the most detailed, and most awkward Law of Chastity lesson I've ever had. He had a lot of questions about it as a new member. Words and phrases were used that I haven't used since 7th grade. 

-Friday-

We exchanged back. Elder Hoole and Elder Lesh had a good time in Hurstbourne while Elder Robbins and I were in Indian Trails. They actually met someone on the street, taught him the restoration, and wound up setting a baptismal date with him. 

When Elder Hoole and I got home we did out weekly planning. Then we set out to teach a LA named Mr Bo. He's a gamer. Kinda stuck in life. He's struggling with his testimony. He's also hard of hearing. He could hear Elder Hoole better than me so I had him teach for the most part. Elder Hoole covered a lot of stuff. He was basically overtaken by the Spirit and taught one of the most perfect lessons I've seen. Hopefully Mr Bo acts on what we taught. 

Later on we taught Mr R again. He hadn't read from the BoM so we read with him. We read 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.

Ether 12:27,

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

and Mosiah 3:19,

19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

and discussed all of them. He loved all of those scriptures. We wanted to get him a baptismal date but we were nervous to because he said he doesn't really believe in baptism. We asked him about his belief in baptism and said he believes he needs to be baptized so we invited him to be baptized and he said "I would be honored to be baptized in your church".

I've never had an investigator say that. He likes us. He believes we have Christ in our hearts. He's always going off on how good our parents must have been to raise us to the point where we'd serve missions. So he feels honored to join something that can put the Spirit of Christ in someone like it's done to us. 

-Saturday-

We had coordination with Bro. Haws in the morning. It was nice having people to report on. After coordination we went to the bike shop to have some special work done on Hoole's bike. Ironically, Elder Hoole popped his front tire on the way up. After we fixed that we continued our journey to the shop. When we got there we got Hoole's bike fixed and bought some fancy multi-tools that have 19 tools in them. The bike ride home was hard. #HillsForDays

After we got home and rested a bit we visited Sis S and taught her how important her calling is in the Primary. She appreciated that. We used some scriptures that describe the importance of teaching and learning in the church. Hopefully that gives her more incentive to return to full activity. 

We finished the day with Mr Ch. He asked us for some scriptures to help his family and all I could thing about were the two great commandments in Matthew 22:36-39  

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

We read them and applied them to his family. He appreciated that.

-Sunday-

We had a good church service again. There were some good testimonies for this fast and testimony meeting. We and the sisters got to help teach the primary kids. They divided the kids into 4 groups and had us rotate through the 4 groups. We taught them different ways you can receive answers to prayers. My lesson was on how "A Summer with Great-Aunt Rose" helped answer my prayer. 

Later on we contacted a referral close to the church. She was super nice and gave us a ton of leftover Halloween candy. There were actually a few people that gave us their leftover Halloween candy. 

-> Small Plates <-

This message comes from Matthew 14:14-21 

14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

15 ¶And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.

17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.

18 He said, Bring them hither to me.

19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

There was a multitude of over 5000 people and Jesus wanted to feed them. His disciples only had a small amount of food to offer. Instead of asking for more food, in effect, Jesus said "bring what you have to me". The disciples brought the food they had and Jesus made it sufficient to fill everyone. 

Jesus will take what we have to offer and make it sufficient to fit His needs. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

The Sisters bought us pizza and sent it to the church on Halloween for working on their bikes.

Watching "The Phone Call"

Gloves...

Modern-Day Samson

October 31, 2016

Dear Family,

This was not Elder Hoole's week. We got smacked with everything. We still laughed about it though. 

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

We started the day at Krispy Kreme again. This will probably become a normal P-Day thing. I love the raspberry jelly filled doughnuts! Later on we shopped and cleaned the apartment like usual. 

We went to Panda Express for lunch. I talked with the new District Leader, Elder Lesh, and found out the Wihongis are his grandparents. I emailed Nana about it and she told me they've been friends for a long time. 

We finished the night at... Carrabbas!!! I finally took Elder Hoole there. He got a shrimp meal where the shrimp were wrapped in bacon. He said it was amazing. I decided to branch out and got the Mahi Wulfe. Oh my gosh that was amazing! That is on my list of best meals ever now! I got this vegetable side thing and that was amazing too! Why is Carrabbas so good?

-Tuesday-

We saw Mr C. He's the gamer less-active we're trying to reactivate. We reviewed the Plan of Salvation and he really enjoyed it. He did bring up a concern with enduring to the end so that'll probably be next lesson's topic. 

After we had to give Sister Williams a blessing. Apparently she hurt her back and wanted a blessing for it. When I first came out it seemed like I gave blessings every other day but now I seldom give blessings. 

After that we went to Ms Be's again and helped her wash her windows this time. She had a lot of windows to wash. After we finished she fed us lasagna. She also prepared iced tea for us. It's always awkward to dance around tea or coffee when someone offers it. Don't worry! I didn't drink any. 

After, we spent the last 3 hours of the day biking around, trying peeps, and talking to peeps. 

So Elder Hoole has the diabetes (or "daiuhbeetus" as Kentuckians pronounce it). He's got an insulin pump that allows him to poke himself every 3 or 4 days instead of every meal. He's also got a nice blood sugar meter to go with it. Unfortunately, he lost his nice meter somewhere along the day. He's got others in case he loses that one but they're not as good. (He actually just found his pump this morning. Woo!)

He came out of the bathroom that night and said "Elder Cox, I'm a modern-day Samson. Only you don't cut my hair to make me weak, you drop my blood sugars to make me weak". 

-Wednesday-

Another service Wednesday. This time at ReStore we helped finish moving the huge granite kitchen set we started last week for the same lady from last week... let me tell you that was a blast to do again... When we finished that lady gave us more food money for lunch afterwards. After she left, someone else who bought another huge granite kitchen set came to pick theirs up so we had to help load that one too. We moved 2 huge granite kitchen sets in all. 

After ReStore we went to Golden Corral. It wasn't that good. I don't know why people like buffets so much.

So, last week I mentioned how Elder Hoole bought a bike. Well, when he bought it they didn't have the right size for him so they had to special order one in for him. In the meantime they gave him another bike to use until his bike came in. Well, his bike came in on Wednesday. So what did we do? We biked 6 miles up and down hills to get to the bike shop or trade in the bike. After we traded the bike, we biked 6 miles up and down hills back to get home. 12 miles of hills total. It took about 1.5 hours out of our day. We were just a little tired.

When we got home we rested a bit, then biked out way up another hill to get to the Methodist Church. As we were helping with the food kitchen they had their Trunk or Treat thing going on at the same time so everyone was dressed up.  

-Thursday-

District meeting. Elder Lesh gave a good training on following the Spirit. Later on we were biking around as usual and met someone who was interested in the gospel AND in our area! That's a first! This guy gave us his contact info without us asking for it. He said he really wants to talk with us. He set up a time for the next day. Hopefully it's not a bash. 

We saw Mr Ch. later. He just barely got his son from Florida so he was pretty exhausted. We just visited for a few minutes to check up on him. After we saw Mr V. His kids were listening to primary songs on YouTube and during one of the songs some pictures of temples came up. He asked us about the temples so we taught him a little about them. He seemed interested. With every visit, his progression looks worse and worse. Something better happen soon or we'll wind up dropping him. 

-Friday-

The potential we picked up the previous day asked if we could reschedule to Saturday. So we used the time we would have spent on him to go to Walmart and get more bike tubes. Neither of us had spares on us and I've learned from experience that it's best to have spares on you at all times. We went to Walmart, got the tubes, and ironically, Elder Hoole popped his back tire on the curb he previously popped his back tire on. He's now a little scared of that particular curb for good reason. Fixing that was fun!

The rest of the day was pretty usual. We did our weekly planning, biked around, said "Hi" to peeps and so forth. We visited the Baptist family that likes us and found out one of their kids died suddenly. 

-Saturday-

So... Saturday exploded. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. First, our new potential, rescheduled to Tuesday. Then we found someone in Austin, TX stole Elder Hoole's debit info and tried to draw $50 out of it so he had to cancel his debit card. Then Sister Williams broke her chain off her bike. Of all things to break on a bike, the chain is something you DON'T want to break. 

So in the morning we had coordination with Brother Haws. It was a good coordination meeting. He had some good ideas about how to use members and Facebook more effectively. After the meeting we found out about the stolen debit card. 

Later on, the sisters and us helped a less-active rake some leaves. He has a gamer son and wants us to come and start teaching him to try and reactivate him.

After the service we were biking to the church for our ward's Halloween chili-cook off. On the way we got a call from the sisters and that's when we found out about Sister William's broken chain. It broke close to our apartment so they wanted us to come by and store the bikes in our apartment so they'd be safe while we all went to the Ward party. 

After we got the bikes in the apartment, we biked to the church and the sisters got a ride from a member. The party itself was fun. The chilis were good and the deserts were amazing. Some people made some sort of pumpkin cake with creme cheese frosting on it. It was amazing! 

After the party the sisters and us talked with Brother McKinney about the chain. He's sort of the ward's bike expert. Most wards have one. That should be a calling. He happened to have a spare chain, so we got the chain, met up at our apartment, and helped him fix it. It was actually pretty cool seeing how to fix a chain. The chain happened to be the right size, length, and pitch for Sister Williams bike. That worked out rather nicely!

-Sunday-

We had a fantastic church service again. One of the speakers in sacrament gave a great talk on forgiveness and another speaker spoke on the Atonement. 

The gospel doctrine lesson was thrown on us so we had to teach it. It went a better than we thought it was going to be. We actually learned some things. 

For 3rd hour the Priesthood and RS were combined. Brother Hatton gave a fantastic lesson on Family Home Evening. It was a great discussion and my appreciation for FHE grew. 

Later on in the day we saw Mr Ch again. This time we were able to teach him a short lesson on prayer. It went really well and he was super appreciative of it. He told us how his day had been falling apart and how he was never praying for patience again. I've learned from experience that when you pray for patience, the Lord will give you plenty of opportunities to be patient... by making your day explode. 

After we saw Mr V again. All I can say about this visit is... It was okay. 

-> Small Plates <-

I heard a story about David A. Bednar at the beginning of my mission that I've been thinking a lot about lately. Whenever he gives a blessing, he asked "Do you have the faith to be healed?" The reason behind that question isn't too hard to figure out. If someone has faith to be healed, they can be healed because the Lord works miracles according to our faith. 

But after he asks that question, he asks another question. That one is "Do you have the faith to not be healed?" The purpose behind this question is to ask the person whose receiving the blessing "If the Lord chooses to not heal you, will your faith hold? Will you maintain your testimony? Are you willing to do the Lord's will? etc." 

If the Lord withholds a blessing or a miracle our first thought is "we're unworthy" to have the blessing or miracle. Sometimes that might be true. But other times it might be a test of our faith. For we "receive no witness until after the trial of our faith". This is a subject that I could say a lot about. But I'll leave it at this...

In my opinion, there's no such thing as failures. What we call "failures" are really teaching moments the Lord uses for our ultimate success. The Lord didn't set us up to fail. He set us up to succeed gloriously. If we have faith and trust Him, then we'll be able to see what the Lord is trying to teach us. If something like being healed is withheld from us it may be because we lack faith or it may not be. It might be something the Lord uses to teach us something. Whatever the case, God loves us and everything He does is for our benefit. He loves all of His children and wants them to grow. He watches out for all of us. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

At Carrabbas!

It's sooo good!

Bike maintenance again...

More bike work

Elder Lesh

Maori pukana!

Wearing the Senior apron & chef's hat at the Methodist church.

Message in a bottle - nice Eldridge knot!

The Book of Hoole

October 24, 2016

Dear Family,

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

This was a fun P-Day. Elder Williams and I started off by eating breakfast at Waffle House. It had been over a year since I previously ate there. It tasted so good! After breakfast we went to the church and hung out with the other missionaries in the area like usual. 

We finished the night helping the Hopkinsons move. I've helped so many people move on my mission! This move was pretty easy. They live in an apartment and there were a lot of other members there to help. 

-Tuesday-

Brother Vivian picked us up in the morning to take us to the transfer spot. Once there we caught up with some of our friends there, found our new companions, and moved some luggage around. My new companion is Elder Hoole. He's been out for about 5 months. He was trained by Elder Davidson in Sulphur Well. Elder Davidson was one of my zone leaders when I was in Corydon. He was the best zone leader I ever had. One of my favorite missionaries. 

When Elder Hoole and I got back to the apartment, the Spanish Elders picked us up to go shopping. They also took us to the bike shop to get Elder Hoole a bike. While I was there I bought some new lights for my bike. My old lights were damaged and weren't bright enough. It also has an expanded field of vision so I can see everything! It's bright! 

After the bike shopping we had lunch, got settled in, and began working. We biked to the Methodist church to have a member there pick us and the sisters up to help an elderly lady out with her yard. We got to the yard and did some simple yard service. It didn't take long at all. They ordered Pizza Hut for us. I've noticed that most people out here prefer Pizza Hut over other pizzas. 

-Wednesday-

Service day! At ReStore we helped a lady there move most of her huge granite kitchen set into her truck.... let me tell you that was so much fun!...>:(.... She felt bad for us so she gave us some money for lunch. So right after we finished our work at ReStore we hopped over to WW Cousins (basically Fudruckers) and ate some half pound bacon cheese burgers. That made everything okay :).

Later on we visited Mr C briefly. He showed his music. He likes to take old video game music and remake it with modern instruments and sounds. He's actually really good at it. He said he'd like to go to school for it. We told him there were colleges for it. 

After Mr C we went to the Methodist church and served more food. At the Methodist church there's a special apron and a special chef's hat that the senior missionary gets to wear. Elder Williams had been wearing those previously because he had been in Hurstbourne longer but now he's gone, and I've inherited the apron and the hat. 

Elder Hoole's back tire already went flat. Day 2 and he had a flat! He's now officially a bike missionary. :)

-Thursday-

This day exploded.... we got soaked in the rain 3 times, got another flat in Hoole's tire, and found a mountain of grass, leaves, and dirt clogging our bathroom sink. 

We started off busing down to district meeting. We got soaked for the first time on the walk there. The bus doesn't take us all the way there. It gets us within walking distance. We got soaked on the walk. We made it to the meeting though. Once there our new district leader, Elder Lesh, gave a great training on commitments. Elder Lesh has been out for about a year. He's going to be a great district leader. 

After the district meeting we played district ping-pong while we were waiting for the bus. The church at Eastern Parkway had a ping-pong table in it. The bus eventually came, we went home, and started working. We found a lady close to the church who was trying to fix her bike chain. Who better to help fix a bike than us? :) 

We fixed her chain and she offered her sink to wash our hands. She didn't want to talk gospel but at least we left a very positive impression. After we helped her, it started raining again. We got soaked for the 2nd time on Thursday as we booked it to the church. 

After some time drying off at the church, we went back out into the world. We saw Mr V. This visit went a lot better than last Sunday. He asked us to share a message with him so we read 3 Nephi 11 with him. It blew his mind to see that Jesus came to America. He's looking forward to coming back to church. He gave us cake and orange juice. :)

Right after we got out of Mr V's, Elder Hoole's tire went flat again. It took me a while to fix this one. When it was fixed, it was about 9 at night. The sun goes down at about 6 here and it's dark by 8. So it was definitely dark at 9. To add to that,Mr V lives about 20-25 minutes from our apartment so we had to bike home in the dark. To further add to that, it was raining... hard... for the 3rd time this day. And lastly, it was cold... very cold... So from Mr V's house we had to go on a long, dark, cold, rainy bike ride back home....

-Friday-

Weekly planning day. Not much happened this day. We biked everywhere and talked with everyone. We met 2 more people who were interested but live in other areas. At the end of the day we went to Kroger to get some snacks. Hoole bought a giant bag of Kit Kats and Reese's and I bought 20 oz. bottles of mango soda. :).

-Saturday-

In the morning we saw Sister Sos. We had a brief lesson about the Book of Mormon and wound up answering her Q's about eternal families. She didn't know that we could seal people who are dead :). That made her happy because she wasn't sure if she'd be with her family after this life. 

Later on in the day we felt like we needed to go to the church for some reason so we went. Once there we did some work on Facebook. We got there just before a leadership meeting for our stake conference began. The leaders from the whole stake were slowly funneling in. Campbellsville is in the same stake as Hurstbourne so as we were working on Facebook, President Rodenberg from Campbellsville walked by and said "Hi." He remembered me and we talked for a bit. It had been close to a year since I saw him last. 

Later on we were out and about and we met someone who thought he was God. We meet some crazy characters in Kentucky. 

-Sunday-

Stake Conference. The whole stake was there. I reconnected with about 15 members I knew from Campbellsville. It was great seeing them again. The conference itself was great. The 3 members of the stake presidency all gave fantastic talks. Our stake president, President Chadwick, is a sweet guy. He's a convert to the church. President and Sister Brough also spake. Their talks were great too. 

After the conference some Sulphur Well members gave us some sammiches for lunch. The rest of the day was pretty usual. Biking everywhere, trying everyone, and talking with everyone. As usual, we found more people who were interested who live in other areas. At least we're finding people who want to be taught. 

-> Small Plates <-

We met a Methodist this week who said something that gave me a unique perspective on things. She said "The Lord might not let you see the fruits of your labors because you'd get prideful". I think that might tie into President Uchtdorf's Aunt Rose talk. When we don't see success from what we do, we might question if we're good enough or not. However, we need to remember that the Lord is in control and as long as we have faith in Him and try to serve Him, He'll take care of us.

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

First time at Waffle House in over a year.

Elder Davidson went home this week. He's one of my favorite missionaries.

Elder Hoole and candy

We got soaked 3 times on Thursday.

How Elder Hoole studies.