Questions?

April 27, 2015

Hello Family,

I got your box of candy. Wow - you stuffed the thing full with everything!

You and dad like to write a lot of questions in your letters so I'll answer them.

-I'm in a car. 

-I email from the library across from the church. 

-Send me as many letters as you like on either mail of email. Mail takes like 5 days. Email is instant but I won't see it until Monday.

-I'm in an apartment. It's just me and my comp.

-I'm fine with food. I actually eat out a lot more than I thought I would. A lot of the members like to cook for us/take us out to eat. Breakfast for the most part is just a little something random from the apartment. This morning I had a peanut butter and honey sandwich on this "really healthy" bread. Lunch and dinner are kinda random. Lunch and Dinner are usually provided through members, other missionaries or gift cards. I used my Subway card the other day. I think I still have like $6 on it or something. 

-I haven't used my Wendy's cards yet. I'm planning on it soon though.

-Even though tracting is "illegal" we do it anyway. It's not like we go exactly door to door. I like to stop at a corner, look at the houses in front of me and see if the spirit is trying to tell me or my companion about one of them.

Thank you for your concerns. It means a lot. I'll let you know of anything I might need/want. Like a bladder tie. I learned about these things in the MTC and I met an Elder who has one. They're ties that have bladders you can drink out of. Just look into them and you'll see what I mean. 

Highlights of the week: 

(I actually have my journal with me this time)

4-20-15 Monday (The day I emailed you last)

After I emailed you I met a man who's a really nice guy. We told him a little, he accepted a Book of Mormon and said he'd be interested in learning more. Later that day we visited a member and gave her and her son a blessing that the medical tests would go well. They haven't gotten the full results back but from what I knew they've ruled out some of the major concerns. 

4-21-15 Tuesday

Today was the day I took the lead in giving a lesson for the first time. Mr K was willing to hear our lesson. We taught him the restoration and he took it abnormally well. We set up a return appointment and left his house. Later than night we met and taught a family. The dad grew up Catholic but everyone else didn't really have a religion. We taught them the restoration and the lesson part went really well. Then things started getting a little heated. He was asking us questions about Joseph Smith, the Bible, how the Bible says not to add to it, how God made the Earth in 7 days etc etc etc. We were able to answer ALL of his questions and they accepted a return appointment.

4-22-15 Wednesday

Today we met a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS). The RLDS member was talking about his concerns with LDS members and the history of the church. We tried answering his concerns but he was too stuck-in-his-ways. He also told us a little about Mr K. Apparently Mr K was a solid member of our church! He didn't tell us that the previous day. We even asked Mr K if he know anything about our church and he said "not really". The reason I said the lesson went abnormally well is because he was answering questions flawlessly. He was taking everything too well for someone who didn't really "hear much" about our church. We haven't had an opportunity to talk to him since.

4-23-15 Thursday

Not really a whole lot happened this day. The zone leaders came and blitzed our area with us. That means there were 4 missionaries in an area instead of 2. 

4-24-15 Friday

A lot more happened today than Thursday. I went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders to his area for the day. We taught a few lessons but the main highlight of today was when we met some Muslims. There was a group of about 8 of them and they were all arguing. My ZL said we should go talk to them, I asked him if he was sure and he said "yes". So we walked over there and it wasn't until we were in the middle of their group when they stopped arguing and said "hi". We started talking about our church and most of them weren't interested and walked off. One was however. He hadn't heard of Mormons before so we told him a little about us, gave him a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment. Sadly I won't be able to teach him because I'm in a different area. 

4-25-15 Saturday

It rained a lot on Saturday. A sister in our ward got her mission call to Las Vegas Nevada. She leaves in a month. I'll have about 4 months left by the time she gets back *yay*. 

4-26-15 Sunday

I helped give an investigator a blessing of comfort because she was heading into the hospital the following day for hand surgery. I met a man who is a single dad of 2 and a recent convert to the church. I asked him what his favorite things about the missionaries were and he said he liked how friendly and knowledgeable they were. If they didn't have the answer off the top of their heads they'd get it to him within 2 days. I ate at a members house and they had AC and ME merchandise all over their house. 

I'm not going to tell you EVERYTHING that happens for 2 reasons. I can't remember everything, even when I'm writing in my journal. And I'd like to tell some stories verbally. This is most of what happened this week. However I do feel like telling you about 3 strange religions I leaned about.

1. My neighbor believes he's "a elf/creature from another realm/dimension who has been called to the Earth through someone's dream to help that person fulfill God's will for them."

2. My comp told me about a man who believed he is "a space cowboy who will be the first and only person to teach religion in space and when that happens all the martians will fall and worship him." 

3. I asked my comp what the strangest religion he's heard about was and he said there's one that worships a "Macaroni God". Apparently half the members actually worship it and the other half join just to mock the religion. 

This is the kind of email I wanted to write from day 1 but I lacked the means until today. I hope you can get the blog up and running.

Thanks for listening 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox

Our church is in an old Nazarine church building - check out the cross.

My Comp and Trainer - Elder Lynch

A "real" river

A member made an all green meal for me because I'm a greenie!
Green ham, green beans, green mashed potatoes with green gravy, green salad, green roll and a green Easter peep!

Lots of green...

Beautiful buildings

Funny!