Meals on Diels

January 23, 2017

Dear Family,

First off... I apologize for the length of this email. Normally my emails are long, this one is longer than most. That's because the small plates section is much bigger than normal. I'll understand if you skip down to the small plates. That's where the best part of the email is anyway. Enjoy!

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

Another P-Day down! I don't have many of these left. The first part was normal. Emailing, shopping, etc. We went to Sister Chandler's funeral. It was a good service. She looked peaceful in her casket. Yeah... #PlanOfSalvation

On a more positive note, our new senior couple came! They're the Diels (pronounced "deal"). Elder and Sister Diel. They just finished a mission in the Philippines. They taught Self-Reliance. The first thing we did with them was unload their car. After that was done, they took us to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Sister Diel is a quieter Sister Boettcher, and Elder Diel remindes me of Kronk from "Emperor's New Groove." 

-Tuesday-

We tried to get our broken dryer fixed. That didn't happen. The belt broke in it and the only appliance place in town is closed all the time. And the apartment management will never answer their phone. 

We called bingo at the nursing home again. That's always fun to do. Every time we go we get free popcorn too!

We met with D and C again and sat in their home while they taught us about their life. They vented their frustrations about not being able to find a job. We gave them a solid commitment to read from the BoM with a promise that if they did, they'd find a job. I haven't left many other commitments that were as solid, bold, and direct as that one so hopefully they actually read. 

At had dinner with the Morgans that night. They live in a nice house on the shore of Lake Hardy, which is forever away from the apartment. They fed us a really nice pasta dish with bacon and chicken in it. For dessert they had rice crispy ice cream sandwiches. Our lesson with them was about the gospel and Facebook. It went well for the most part. They love the gospel, not Facebook, so getting a commitment was a little awkward. 

It was Elder Koepfer's birthday! He turned 21! Yes, he's a month older than me. 

-Wednesday-

Another weekly planning session down. I don't have many more to do. For the morning and afternoon hours we went on a long walk around town. For part of this walk we explored an abandoned factory that's next to Lake Iola. This factory was abandoned in the 50's. The ceiling is gone, but the walls are still up. There's even some old machinery that was left behind still there! I took a long video of us touring that place. We had a fun time exploring it. It's not every day that you get to explore an abandoned factory from the 50's that's still decently intact. Part of the reason we did this was in celebration of Kloepfer's birthday. 

Later that day we taught Miss B with the Diels. We gave her the first new member lesson. It went decently well. She's able to retain a lot of knowledge for a 9 year old. She seems to be calmer and happier now that she has the Gift of the Holy Ghost. 

We finished the night with the H family. We had a decent lesson about temples. They're all working on getting their recommends so they can do baptisms for the dead. Bro. H gave the closing prayer. As he was praying his son in the kitchen was being noisy, so in the middle of the prayer Bro H yelled, "Dylan! I'm praying!" I laughed a bit because I had never heard a parent get onto their kid while they were praying. 

-Thursday-

This was a fun Thursday. We went to the Clearinghouse and helped sort more food there with the Diels. The Clearinghouse is very similar to DI. When we finished there the Diels took us next door to the YMCA so they could meet President Penrod (he's the CEO of the YMCA in town). The Diels met him, and he invited all of us to lunch. We went to this Mexican place that was surprisingly authentic. I got a tamale. I really like tamales. The Diels paid for us. That was the second meal they provided for us. 

Later on we saw Ms Ro and gave her a decent temple lesson. She wants to go to the temple. She feels unworthy so we assured her that she can make it if she works for it. 

We served at Food 4 R Souls again. I had some nasty fatigue while we were helping. There were actually several days this week I felt fatigued. I'm pretty sure that was caused by all the stress of being sick with one thing or another for the last month. That, and I've also noticed that if I don't have 3 proper meals a day then I'll get fatigued too. Being an adult isn't fun. 

After Food 4 R Souls, we saw Jo for the first time in forever. He's still Jo. He still wants to learn how to repent but being 17 isn't helping. Yeah... We'll see what happens. 

Taught Bro. L again. Read D&C 121 with him. He's also still Bro. L. 

-Friday-

The Diels drove us to their first district meeting in Madison. The sisters gave a great training on Christlike attributes. It's been awhile since anyone has trained on those. After the meeting the Diels took us to the Downtowner. That's a little food place in downtown Madison that we went to when Kloepfer and I went to Madison for P-Day last transfer. This time the special was a grilled cheese with ham and tomato soup. Just like last time, the food was great. I really like the Downtowner. 

Layer on we were walking around like usual when this guy stopped us and talked to us. He was a super nice guy. He gave us A&W cream soda. He wanted to "study" with us right then and there. We didn't have anything going on at the moment so we agreed to "study" with him. His version of "studying" was simply telling us how he believed that God was an alien and that tobacco is good for you. Yeah... People are funny. 

-Saturday-

Oh my gosh! The weather was great on Saturday! It was 65 degrees most of the day! It felt so nice! There were so many people out to work with. We took the Diels to visit Ms Ro. They were fantastic for Rosetta! They were able to relate to her better than we could. The Diels used to be less-active themselves. They'll be great for a lot of the members in the branch because of the experience they've had. Ms Ro should be able to progress faster with the Diels. 

Later on that night we went on an adventure drive in the boonies to try people we've never met before. One person we tried was another less active named Sis J. Right when we got out of the car at her house, her husband let the dogs out of the front door. They started running towards us. We got back into the car rather quickly. After the husband saw who we were he came out, talked to us (while we were still in the car), and set up a time to meet for the next day. 

-Sunday-

I had one of the top 5 church services on my mission this week. It was amazing! I'm finally starting to get a lot out of church. Which is a good thing since I'll be going to church for the rest of my life. In sacrament meeting, Bro Sebastian reviewed some of my favorite church blog articles from recent months. Bro Nutter was the second speaker. He used to be the branch president but he moved out some years ago. He visited this week and gave the most powerful sacrament talk I've ever heard. It was general conference level. I'll attempt to describe it in my small plates. Bro Banda's lesson in priesthood echoed everything that was taught. 

After church we visited Sis J. She's a nice lady. She still believes in the church but she has issues with the members of the local branch. She said she'll come back someday. We asked her if she'd like to meet the Diels and she accepted. They'll be able to help her better than we could. 

The Diels fed us a Sunday night dinner. Spaghetti, bread, and salad. Classic easy meal. It was great! Sister Diel's a good cook. This was the 4th meal they fed us. 

-> Small Plates <-

Here's a (sort of) condensed version of Brother Nutter's talk from my memory. Hopefully I can do it justice. 

"To start off, let me take you back to 1979. I was a Sargent in the Marine Corps stationed in California. There was a man named John who was a Vietnam veteran, had left the Army, joined the Marines, and was then worked for me. The time came for John to re-enlist. He came to me and asked for my advice on what he should do. 

"I told him 'You know, you have some bargaining room here. You should be able to ask for just about any responsibility you want. You should go on embassy duty. Marines guard all the embassies around the world. Not only do they guard, they have to attend all the events too. All the dinners. All the dances. Whenever no one's dancing with the daughter of a foreign representative, you'll have to dance with her. You'll also get to chauffeur people around in a white shirt and tie. And during all of this, you'll be in a foreign county.'

"He said to me 'Wow! That sounds pretty good! I'll do that!' So he went through the training. Before he finished the training be came to me and said 'This has been great! Thanks for recommending this. Do you have any other advice for me?' I told him 'About a week before you finish the training they'll ask you where you want to go. There's about a 50/50 chance you'll get it. However, if you ask for hardship duty, they'll put you somewhere where there's a lot of anti-American feelings for a year. Somewhere like Russia, or the Middle East. It'll be hard year. But when you complete that year, they'll guarantee you anywhere you want to go for 3 or so years. Do you want to go to New Zealand? Australia? England? That's their commitment to you if you complete the hardship duty.' He said to me 'That sounds good too. I'll do that.'

"Well, the time came when they asked John where he wanted to go and he asked for hardship duty. In 1979, he was sent to the embassy in Tehran. That embassy was taken in 1979, and everyone that was there was held hostage for over 400 days. John was one of those hostages. 

"John and I were both Marines. We both signed up to be in harms way. That fact gave me some comfort with John's situation, but I couldn't help but feel bad because my advice had led John to be a hostage. 

"Some of you are probably wondering 'What does any of this have to do with the gospel?' Well, long before 1979, we were all offered benefits if we would accept hardship duty. We were promised perfect bodies, eternity with our families, exaltation, and many, many other things. Back then we said 'Wow! That sounds amazing! I want that.' So we all signed up for hardship duty. However, when when got here we realized that this was going to be a lot harder than we thought. Our bodies are imperfect right now. They have all kinds of pains and trials. We suffer. We hurt. There seems to be no end.

"While John was in Tehran, he went through many trials. They beat him. Tortured him. But he had support from the other hostages that were with him. They would help each other when things got hard. When John didn't have strength to continue, his friends were strong for him. John also had support from people on the other side of the conflict in America who were working hard for his release. People all the way up to the President of the United States. 

"As we go through life, we go through many trials. We are beaten, and in some cases tortured. Thankfully, we have support from our friends and family. They can help us when things get hard. They can be strong for us when we don't have strength. Our friends and family are not our only source of support, however. We also have much support from the other side. There are thousands and thousands of people who are helping us and others to come home through many means. People all the way up to our Heavenly Father. 

"Eventually, John and the other hostages release was negotiated, and they were led home to be reunited with their families. 

"John would not have made it if it weren't for the support of his friends in Tehran, and for the support of those on the other side in America. Likewise, we won't make it back home without our friends and family, or without the support of those on the other side of the veil." 

(My memory of the talk ends here. There wasn't much more that he said at this point. He made some analogies to missionary work and how we can help others return home. Yup... I really liked his talk.)

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

1st week in Scottsburg.

Washing dishes 

Food farm field

Abandoned corn factory from the 50's.

It's big!

Alma 40

January 16, 2017

Dear Family,

Why is this letter titled "Alma 40?" Well... As Brother Emmert in Owensboro would put it... "Several people became active participants in the plan of salvation" this week. Thankfully, that's true in more ways than one. Get the details below 😁.

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

I had the most exhaustive emailing session of my whole mission. I emailed/messaged 25 people. Most of them were people I had to thank for one reason or another. A lot of those people were members from back home who wrote me at the ward Christmas party. I sent all of them "thank you" notes. 

I took a two hour nap! Woo !!

Later that night we saw the H family. They're recent converts. We introduced FHE to them. We did that by reading the Family Proclamation. It was a solid lesson. They're progressing rather nicely. I like working with them. 

-Tuesday-

We had 3 little miracles on Tuesday! The first one was an encounter with a less-active who's normally impossible to meet because she's never home. Well, we felt impressed to walk by her house in the morning and we happened to catch her raking leaves in her front yard. Woo! We had a nice little chat. Hopefully we'll be able to start working with her more. She comes to church about once a transfer which is better than most other less-actives. 

The second miracle was similar. We ran into another less-active at a gas station. We didn't really plan on seeing her there. We just happened to run into her there. We had another nice little chat. She's less-active because all of her kids play like 10 sports. And Sunday is always a big game day. 

The third miracle was with Miss B's last lesson. We always have to get another guy to come for her lessons because we can't teach females alone. Normally Elder Boettcher did that for us but with him being gone, that made our lives a little more difficult. This was her last lesson before her baptismal interview. Thankfully, her mom was able to pull through and bring her dad along. Normally he's working when we have the lessons but he was off this day. So we had the last lesson and everything went well. Yay!

Among other things we did on Tuesday, we called bingo at the nursing home again. That's already fun. Some of those old people are losing their minds but others are still quite sharp. Those are the fun ones to talk to. 

-Wednesday-

Wednesday was fun. We had another weekly planning session. 11 more to go! Then Elder Kloepfer took some time to practice piano for Miss B's baptism on Saturday. Later on we began a 2-day exchange with Madison. It was 2 days because Miss B's interview was this Wednesday, district meeting was this Friday, so we didn't want to burn a lot of miles to exchange back on Thursday. Therefore, we went on a 2-day exchange. 

Did that paragraph make sense? I hope it did. 

I was in Scottsburg with Elder Irwin for the exchange. We had a fun time! When we started the exchange we got a call from Sister Chandler. She was wanting a blessing for her health. So we went over, visited for a bit, and gave her the blessing. Everything went well. 

Later on we met with Miss B and Elder Irwin did the baptismal interview. She did very well. She passed! Yay! 

We had another solid lesson with Ms Ro about the atonement. This time around we taught her the plan of salvation and emphasized how the atonement played a role in that. She enjoyed the lesson, as usual, and learned a couple more things about the atonement. 

Elder Irwin and I finished the day at Wendy's. That's always a good way to finish a day. 

-Thursday-

We went to the Clearinghouse for the first time in a month. Normally we're supposed to go every Thursday morning but they haven't been open on Thursday mornings for the last month. They finally were this time around. All we did was sort cans. Nothing crazy. Just beans and more beans. 

We had lunch with the Terrell's at the Health Food Store. The Health Food Store is this tiny shop on the square that sells all things healthy. The have a tiny restaurant in the back that serves, you guessed it! All things healthy. I got a grilled cheese sandwich made from very healthy, and very expensive, bread. I also got a side of tomato soup to go with it. It was good food. I'll have to go back for more. 

After lunch, Irwin and I planned on doing some tracting but right before we started, it started pouring rain on us. We waited in the car for a bit until the storm calmed down. While we waited, we made some phone calls. I also called Sister Chandler to check up on her. She was doing worse. When the storm calmed, we went and knocked some doors. We actually got a decent amount of success out of it. We found this Pentecostal guy who was interested. Pentecostal's usually worry me because they're the crazy ones, but this guy was easy going so we might actually get somewhere with him. I'll keep you all posted on that. 

After the tracting we went up to Austin. We met this guy outside his house add he was talking to his dog. He was super nice but... crazy at the same time. He talked to us for about 15 minutes. Here's a little except from our conversation. 

Guy: "What church do you guys go to?"

Me: "The Church of Jesus Christ of..."

Guy: *cuts me off* "Where are you guys from?"

Irwin: "I'm from Washington."

Guy: "Where?"

Irwin: "Washington."

Guy: "OH! You're from Kentucky! I love Kentucky!"

He kept confusing us for school-book salesmen. Even though we repeatedly told him we weren't. He was funny though. 

After we finished with him we did service at Food 4 R Souls again. Elder Irwin got a shirt. We helped serve burgers and hot dogs this time. Their food has gone down lately. When I first got here, their food was great. Now it has degraded to normal in kitchen quality. 

Later that night, as we were falling asleep, we got calls from Sister Boettcher and President Penrod informing us that Sister Chandler, the lady Elder Irwin and I just barely gave a blessing to, passed away that evening. What disturbed me the most about that was the fact that I was one of the last people who she ever talked to in this life. I talked to her on the phone Thursday afternoon, and she passed Thursday evening. She had a lot of health problems. But she was just a few weeks shy of 33.

-Friday-

We drove to Madison for district meeting and to end the exchange. Irwin gave a fun training on finding. I got a couple ideas out of it. Something that we do at every missionary meeting is we stand up and recite the missionary purpose, 

D&C 4:1-7,

1- "Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. 

2- Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. 

3- Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work; 

4- For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; 

5- And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. 

6- Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. 

7- Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen."

and 3 Nephi 5:13,

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." 

While we were reciting, a non-member walked into our meeting. From his perspective it probably looked like we were chanting something. He was cool about it though. He just came in to tell us that his truck broke down and that he parked it in our parking lot until help would come. 

After we exchanged back we drove back to Scottsburg and began or normal days activities. We saw Brother L and read D&C 84 with him. He really wants the priesthood. He seems to be progressing. 

We also taught the H family again. This time we went over family councils and invited him to apply them into his family. The dad is a really good dad to his two sons. One son's not a member. Hopefully we can change that soon. 

-Saturday-

Well... Miss B was baptized. The Boettchers drove us all the way up to the North Vernon building for her baptism. North Vernon is way out of the mission. We got to meet the sister missionaries who serve there. It was kinda weird meeting missionaries from another mission. North Vernon is part of the Indianapolis mission. 

Before the baptism, we and President Penrod ran around finalizing the program. The service itself went very well. I was one of the witnesses for the baptism. Miss B was a little scared to get into the water but she did and Elder Boettcher baptized her quickly. As she was getting out of the font she said  "I did it, Mom! I did it!" She was supposed to be baptized last year but she was terrified of the water and she didn't like the large crowd that was present. But she was ready this time around. 

After the service, the Boettchers drove us home and we began working. We saw Ms Ro again and taught her the most powerful atonement lesson she's had yet. We read Alma 42 with her and broke down the laws of justice and mercy for her and everything finally clicked for her. She finally understood everything we've been telling her. In this lesson we finally found her true concern and answered it. She wanted to know why trials happen. It took a lot of lessons to bring that out. I don't think even she understood what her true concern was. But that was it. "Why do trials happen?" Or more specifically "Why do my trials happen?" We finally answered that. 

-Sunday-

Went to church! Woo! Miss B was confirmed. She asked us to participate in the confirmation. That was a sweet experience. The rest of the church service was good too. I love learning from the Gordon B. Hinckley book. I look forward to reading all of those teachings of the president's books when I get home. 

The rest of the day was difficult to work. Sundays are always hard to work because it's the end of the week, you're tired, you had church earlier, etc. This one was particularly hard because it was cold, wet, raining, cloudy, dark, and gray. We drove around trying potentials, formers, and less actives. We didn't get much success out of that. We spent the last part of the day going through the branch roster looking for part member families. We found a few that might be good to start working with in the future. 

-> Small Plates <-

I don't really have any profound thoughts for this week. I'd say the two spiritual highlights were Ms B's baptism and our lesson we had with Ms Ro where everything about the atonement clicked for her. Ms Ro's example taught me something about teaching the gospel. 

Concerns are always simple and therefore require simple answers. However, it may take some time for those teaching and those being taught to understand the concern. In Ms Ro's case, it took several lessons for us and for herself to understand that her concern was not how the atonement heals us, but that there's a reason for everything. Especially trials. 

There is a reason for everything. Especially trials. Trials help us grow. They help us learn. They're meant to stretch us. 

(I feel like half of my spiritual thoughts have to do with trials. That's become a favorite subject of mine.) 

In summary of this week. We had someone pass away, but we also saw someone get baptized. Both are active participants of the plan of salvation. One is helping in the spirit world, another just took their first steps to eternal life. 

Every one of God's children is a participant in the plan of salvation. We are all participants. We are all commanded to help one another in the capacities we're capable of. This is what missionary work is. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Secret selfie with super nice tie.

Below Bitter Cold

January 9, 2017

Dear Family,

For the sake of time I'm going to keep this shorter than most other emails. Get the week below

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

Normal P-Day full of cleaning and shopping. Because of the Christmas season, I got some extra cash. Thank you!!!! I'm such a child. :D

We visited Mr Ad again. As always we read with him. He's able to pick a lot out of the BoM. He'll make a good member. 

-Tuesday-

The temperature was great! We bike around for most of the day. It rained off and on though. Lame! 

We saw Ms Ro and taught her a powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson and tied everything into the Atonement. She's starting to really open up to us. She's a lot happier around us now than she was when I first got here. 

We also taught Bro L and read 2 Nephi 2. As always, he seems to be progressing. We should see him at church in the coming weeks. 

-Wednesday-

We did a lot of our new favorite activity. Walking. We walked everywhere in town. 

We taught Miss B and finished L5 with her. She's ready. She really wants to get baptized. We just need to do the interview now to get her baptized.

-Thursday-

It snowed! There was about 2 or 3 inches on the ground! It was 20 degrees all day!

We saw Ms Ro again and read Elder J. Devin Cornish's "Am I Good Enough? Will I Make It?" from last conference. She loved it! It help put things into perspective for her.

We served at Food 4 R Souls. This time was BBQ sammiches. 

We saw Bro L again and reviewed the Plan of Salvation for him. We briefly visited Mr M. He's still reading the BoM thankfully. 

-Friday-

The Madison Elders drove us down to New Albany for a Zone meeting. They gave a bunch of trainings on being yourself. It was a good meeting. We went to Steak N' Shake for lunch afterwards. Their burgers are cheap but they're actually good. 

3 of our 4 lessons fell though so we spent a majority of the day walking around in 10 degree weather with a windchill of 3 degrees. 

We taught Mr A and his dad again. It was nice to have both of them to teach. We taught them about family home evening. They're a solid family.

-Saturday-

We spent about half the day in Crothersville trying people. Not much happened there. We ate at the Subway they have. For Crothersville being as small as it is, they've got a surprisingly nice and large Subway. 

We saw Bro L again and read Alma 5. It sort of threw down on a lot of the stuff he needs to fix. 

We taught Mr Ma for the first time in a while. We taught him the Restoration. It must have been led by the Spirit because I remember nothing I said. 

-Sunday-

Church! Bro L came. Our branch president, President Pernod, gave us a 10 second notice to teach gospel principles. We started with the first lesson since we finished the book last week. It was a solid class period. Everyone there participated a lot. It made our life easy. 

Later on we met with a man named Da and his wife C. They live next to Ms J. We had a nice conversation about eternal families and the BoM. They're interested in learning more. We'll see where they go. 

-> Small Plates <-

Are you reading your scriptures? Just checking....

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Crazy Zone Meeting!

Funny missionaries

New Albany Zone - January 2017

Bye 2016! Hello 2017!

January 2, 2017

Dear Family,

I've been seeing a lot of memes on Facebook about how hard 2016 was for everyone. It wasn't really much different for me. It beat me up. Physically with 2 car accidents and 2 bike accidents. Mentally with trying to stay creative in relatively small areas. And Spiritually with how demanding the Spirit is. Yeah... 2016 was hard for me too. There were a lot of good times and a lot of bad times too. Overall, it caused a lot of growth. I learned a lot too. Do you want to know how my last week in 2016 was? Get it below...

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

This was a weird half P-Day because of Wednesday's temple trip. Whenever you go to the temple your P-Day is split up. So... in the morning we went to the Masonic Lodge! That was fun! The Branch Presidency's second counselor here is a Mason. He's even led the Masonic Lodge in Scottsburg a few times. He took us in and showed us around. It was fun seeing all the stuff inside. I learned that Masons are VERY Christian people. Everything they do has some sort of root in the Bible. Both new and old testaments. It was fun!

Next we did our emailing and shopping. Yay!

Then we saw Ms Ro. In the lesson she asked us what the Atonement was. That's the second person on my mission who's asked me that and it's becoming my favorite question to answer. When she asked that our lesson completely turned around and we started teaching about the Atonement. Teaching about the Atonement has a different feeling than teaching anything else in the gospel. 

We read with Mr Ad again. It's still cool to see how interested in the Book of Mormon a 16 year-old can be. 

-Tuesday-

Well... we walked... and walked... and walked... and... guess what?... we walked!... 

On our walking we ran into Sis S. We met her about a month ago and have been unsuccessful at contacting her since. Thankfully, we found her walking around as we were walking around. She's doing about the same as she was last time we saw her. I don't know if we'll be able to reactivate her but we'll see what happens. 

The Boettcher's drove us clear up to Miss B's house. She lives just barely outside of our mission in the Indianapolis mission. Her parents have permission to attend the Scottsburg branch though, and that's why we're teaching Miss B instead of the other missionaries. We had a good visit with Miss B and her mom. We decided it would be best to push her baptism back a few weeks because there was still a lot that needed to happen. She was upset. She really wants to get baptized. 

-Wednesday-

Temple day!!! After almost 2 years I FINALLY got to go to the Louisville temple! It was a tiny, tiny temple. But it was still amazing! The Boettchers drove us there. There was several other missionaries there too. Including Elder Hoole! After the temple the Boettehr's took us to Red Robbin. I got a nice bowl of clam chowder and a salad. Then the Boettcher's went shopping at Costco. That was another weird experience being in Costco after almost 2 years. Then we went home and rested a bit. After a while we started biking around but we didn't do that for long because it started freeze raining. It was cold! 

-Thursday-

Thursday was pretty dry. We had service that fell through. And all of our other plans for the morning and the afternoon fell through too. Yeah... I think Thursday was as dry as it was because Wednesday was amazing with the temple and all. 

We went to Food 4 R Souls in the evening there. It was a normal night. I served cabbage soup. It was some pretty good cabbage soup too! 

We saw Ms Ro again and taught her more about the Atonement. I feel like the church's Missionary Department needs to create a lesson about the Atonement itself. Instead of having it be part of the second lesson. There's so much to it. It's the most important subject in all of the gospel. 

-Friday-

District Meeting in the morning. Elder Irwin gave another teaching skill training. After the training, we went to this little BBQ place called Smokin' Crow's in Hanover. I got a BBQ pulled pork sammich. I still love BBQ pork! It's the best. After lunch I went on exchange with Elder Williams in Madison! Wooo! It was fun being with an old companion again. 

The Madison Elders recently started doing service at an animal shelter that takes care of dogs and cats. Do you want to know what I did? I helped wash a dog, played with a puppy for 10 minutes, and walked 2 other dogs by myself... You're probably re-reading that to make sure you read that correctly... yes... I worked with dogs for a couple hours. Did I enjoy it? Yes and no... I still don't want a dog. The first dog I walked was very well-behaved. The second wasn't at all. The puppy was fun. Washing the other dog wasn't... yeah...

After the animal shelter we spent a while walking around Madison's downtown. They have a sweet downtown. Elder Williams and I finished the night by buying cider and geeking out over geeky things like we used to do. 

-Saturday-

Drove to Scottsburg and exchanged back. Elder Kloepfer and I did our weekly planning. Then we had missionary coordination with Bro Ponder and the Boettchers. By the time all of that was done we only had a couple hours to work before we had to be in for New Year's Eve. We spent that time driving around in the boonies trying random people. Nothing happened. 

Like other holidays, we had 6-9 off for New Year's Eve. We spent the last 3 hours of the day at the Boettchers playing Yahtzee. Elder Kloepfer kept winning. It was a fun way to end the year. We were in bed by 10:50 or so. I didn't stay up this time like I did last year. 

-Sunday-

Went to church. It was great! It was fast and testimony meeting for us. It was the Boettcher's last Sunday so they both got up and bore their testimonies. We had a nice D&C lesson for 2nd hour and a nice lesson on the Priesthood for 3rd hour. It was a successfully edifying Sunday. 

After church the Boettchers took us out to the boonies to track down Mr Al's new house. He moved last week. We found the house but he wasn't there. He's stopped answering our calls and texts. We're starting to think he's lost interest. 

We had our last Sunday dinner with the Boettchers. They'll be gone by this coming Wednesday. We're both sad to see them go. They've been awesome! Along with dinner they had freshly cut pineapple. Ever since Elder Williams (he LOVES pineapples), I've had a strong appreciation for pineapples. 

-> Small Plates <-

I gained a cool insight about Ether 12:27 this week. I've had many instances throughout my mission where I'll be studying one subject but my mind will be pulled to another subject. One such instance happened this week. I think I was reading something about finding investigators but my mind was not focusing on that. My thoughts were being pulled to another subject. I believe the Spirit was pulling my thoughts. 

My thoughts were pulled to the subject of weaknesses. Probably the most famous verse about this subject is Ether 12:27 "...if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble... if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I asked myself "does that mean the Lord will fix our weaknesses if we have faith in Him and humble ourselves to Him?" I think the answer is sometimes yes. I feel like in some cases the Lord will help you fix your weakness to help you improve. Having a weakness leads to humility. If we didn't have weaknesses, it would actually be more difficult to humble ourselves and learn how much we need to rely on the Lord. This idea is expressed by Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. In these verses Paul says he has "a thorn in the flesh", or in other words, a weakness. He goes on to say how that weakness helps keep him humble and that he's actually grateful for his weakness. 

This is probably the longest thought I've sent. 😝

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

I'm the friendly Elder Bike Repair Guy!

I'm in the mirror!

Pale green tie

Christmas Week!

December 26, 2016

Dear Family,

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-

This was another very busy P-Day. I got a free haircut from a member who's a barber. Then we drove to Madison and hung out with the Madison elders for the day. We went to most of the random/weird little shops they had in their downtown. They had a lot of antique shops. Of course I made everyone go into the music shop. I bought some drum sticks there. It's been a long time since I've bought drum sticks. 

We taught Mr Ad that night. He wanted to read out of the BoM with us. He said he likes reading out of the BoM. That's impressive for a 16 year old convert. 

-Tuesday-

Not only did we bike around on Tuesday. We went on an adventure ride! Not your normal adventure ride. We rode in the country! Where the hills are unforgiving. We biked a good 3 or 4 miles out to this trailer park in the middle of nowhere to try a few people. When we got there we happened to run into a less-active that we've been trying to contact. We managed to set up an appointment. Yay! Biking!

We met another less-active named Mr K for the first time. He likes Star Wars. A lot. He's building the inside of an AT-AT Walker for his bed in his bedroom. It's pretty cool! 

We tried to meet with Mr Jo but he wasn't there. His mom was though. And she wanted to talk to us. At first I thought we were in trouble but she actually told us that it's a good thing we're talking to Mr Jo. Apparently he's been going through some rough things lately and needs some good friends. 

-Wednesday-

We taught Ms J and it went a lot better than it normally does. She's read up to the hundredth page in the BoM. Wow! Most people don't even get close to that. We were actually able to have a solid lesson with her too. So she's looking good again. I guess she's going to be an investigator who has good weeks and bad weeks. 

We went to the Hyde's for dinner. We were planning on teaching Mr Ad and the other family members about family home evening but right after dinner the UK vs. Uof L (University of Kentucky vs University of Louisville) game came on. I swear anytime a UK vs. Uof L game comes one Kentucky and Indiana shut down to watch. When those games are going, missionary work almost stops. 

-Thursday-

Went to New Albany for the Christmas Conference! It was 6 hours long! The first few hours were training. Then a Christmas program Sis. Brough put together. Then we had lunch. Then games. Then some more trainings. I knew almost every missionary there. It was a good time. I felt like I was surrounded by friends. Since it was 3 zones in 1 building, that was probably the last time I'll see a majority of those people. 

We got home. Had dinner. Then we saw Ms Ro and read with her again. She's a bit of a difficult less-active. Her kids are causing her a lot of stress which causes her to return to old habits. 

-Friday-

Friday was a day. We had our weekly planning. Yay. Then biked around for a bit. It wasn't bitter cold thankfully. We met a lady who was actually certified crazy. She had a million pit bulls. My favorite dog! I didn't take my hand off my pepper spray as we talked with this lady. Or, as she talked to us. She was a talker. She went on about so many subjects. She talked with us for a good half hour. It was a long half hour. I can't really describe how she was in this email because that would take me too long. She was the craziest person I've talked to on my mission and that's saying something. 

Later on we saw Mr K again. This time we found out he's got a nice little tattoo shop next to his house (no I didn't get a tattoo. Stop asking). It's full of Marvel merchandise. He likes comics. He was tattooing the Avengers logo on someone's leg when we walked in. It wasn't really the environment to have a typical lesson". 

-Saturday-

Saturday was pretty solid. We taught Mr Jo. It went extremely well. He told us he wants to learn how to repent. I was surprised to hear that coming from a 17 year-old. There was so much I wanted to say that would have applied to him. So many things about repentance that I could tell him. I really had to rely on the Spirit of Discernment to figure out what he needed. And to not overload him too. We wound up committing him to read he BoM because it can teach repentance better than we can. He accepted. Yes! 

We finally saw Mr M again. We broke the news to him that we couldn't baptize him because of his probation and he took it very well. He still wants to meet with us and learn. We read "I Will Not Burn the Book" with him. That's a good story you should check out. 

Later in the day we went to Lexington, IN to track down some members and formers. Of everyone we tried, only 1 didn't answer. That's pretty good! One of the formers we contacted is open to lessons again. Yes! The only problem is they live forever away.

I always wanted to serve in Lexington. I just thought it would be Lexington, KY not Lexington, IN. I think that's funny. 

We finished the night at the Boettchers with the district playing games and eating dinner. It was a good night. I'm going to miss the Boettchers when they're gone. 

-Sunday-

Christmas! Had an hour long church service. Mostly singing. When we got home we opened our gifts! I got some nice ties and a lot of candy! After that we went to the Boettchers for lunch and more games. Then the time came for the Skype call. I had a great time talking to my family! That was the last Skype call of the mission. I can't believe it's been this long. It just feels like a few weeks ago I was calling from then President Sodder's home on Mothers Day. Man! 

The evening was easy. We went back to the Boettchers. I made my peanut butter kiss cookies at their place because Elder Kloepfer got permission to Skype his brother in California. I made the cookies out of the white chocolate wonderful peanut butter! They were so good! 

-> Small Plates <-

I hit 21 months next week. That's where Elder Lynch was when he got me. Wow! Has the time flown. With the Christmas season coming to a close I thought it would be appropriate to bear my testimony of the Savior instead of giving a spiritual thought. 

I'm awful at recognizing the things the Lord does for me at the moment He does them. Usually it takes me some time to think about things, to ponder them, to find the Lord's hand in my life. As I look back on my mission, I can see how meticulously crafted it has been for me. This was an experience that was perfectly customized to me. It taught me in ways that I could understand and pushed me in ways that would help me. I will be forever grateful for this opportunity I've had to be on a two year miracle. 

When I first came out I really didn't know much about the gospel. Sure, I had something of a testimony and a decent understanding of things but it wasn't until I came out that all of it really set in. I've learned so much more about the gospel and I've been able to see its application in action. All of this has taught me some important truths. 

God lives. Jesus is the Savior. They love us. This church is God's church. There's no doubt about that. The Holy Ghost has given me this knowledge through experience over a long period of time. I know this. It's real and it's true. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Missionary Christmas Party!
Elder Williams, Elder Cox, Elder Hoole and Elder ____

District Christmas Party!

Dab!

The Sisters, the Boettchers, Elders Williams, Cox, Kloepfer and Irwin

Icy lake

PB Kiss cookies!