Serving in Kentucky: 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)