Blog-

May 26, 2015

Dear Family,

I'm sorry I didn't write yesterday. The library was closed. :P

Also... you went to Disney World with out me, huh?..... that's going to cost you.... I'll see you in spirit prison... ;)

I'm surprised you know my mission by GKLM. I can't remember if I told you about that or not. I'm glad everything with Grandpa's funeral went well. I'm sure he's much happier. 

I'm glad CDI has been so kind to you with your parents passing. Maybe they'll give you a raise. :) 

I believe Interstellar was the last movie we watched in theaters with just Dad and me. Paddington was the last movie we watched as a family. I'm so glad those were the last two movies we got to watch together. Both were extremely well made. 

So I was wondering if you could make my blog public. Adam emailed me and said he couldn't get into it and I can't get into it because the church email won't allow me and they don't want me to log into any other email. 

I got the box with everything. I actually wore the tie for my talk. I ate 4 of those warheads at once and recorded it. I can't send it now because I don't have my camera or journal with me. I've eaten half of the jelly beans so far. I'm trying to get Elder Lynch to play the game. Haven't had success yet but I'll get him eventually.

Living on my own sucks because it was so much easier when I was at home. It really isn't that bad. I may have made it sound worse than it really is. 

I think it's funny that Evermore's done. It was a completely awesome idea and their booths at the convention were always really well done but as the opening date drew close, it looked like it was too good to be true. 

Do you remember Mrs. Brough? That mom from last year? Have you messaged her yet?

I haven't really had much time to look through the flash drive yet but I'm thankful you sent it. It'll come in handy since videos on my camera take up a lot of space. 

Thanks again for sending me that box. Most of the candy's already gone.

I think I'm just going to do shorter "Highlights of the Week" emails because the ones I've been doing are getting harder to write due to time. It takes me a while to make those. 
I feel like a bit of an idiot for never realizing how valuable the scriptures are. I read them for over 2 hours a day now and apply their principles the best I can. I should be starting Jesus The Christ by Talmage in the next week or so. I'm really looking forward to it. I've heard several things about it. Someone told me it was written in the Holy of Holy's in the temple, someone else told me it was so good the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 almost made it the 5th standard work. I have no idea how true those are but a lot of people have been telling me how good it is. 

A highlight that pops in mind is when I went on exchange with the English Elders again. I got that Joseph Smith print so you don't need to buy a new one (sorry if you already did). What I'm going to do with it is have all of my companions, my mission president, his wife, and myself sign it. When I get home, I'll frame it. It'll become the best item from the mission field.

So my war in street contacting is kinda hard to describe but I'll try to do my best. In the MTC they trained us to teach right from the start. They wanted us to talk about the restoration so that the spirit could work through our words. I remember one example role play where the missionary tried to get to know the person for 5 minutes before they started teaching gospel principles. Apparently 5 minutes is too long. They want us to teach from the start but I keep thinking back to what you said in your letter. "People won't care about what you have to say until they know you care about them." I've been at war with myself because I want to be obedient but I want people to know I care about them instead of rehearsing something because someone told me to. I've been looking for a good balance between both and there's a good example in Elder Holland's MTC talk "Feed My Sheep". 

Does that make sense?

I want to be obedient.

I disagree with the way the MTC taught street contacting.

I want people to know I care about them instead of rehearsing something I was taught

I feel conflicted because the MTC and PMG teach one way and Jeffery R. Holland teaches the way I want to do it. 

But, I've been finding good balances to it. Such as answering questions of the soul through the Book of Mormon. I just want to be obedient and help as many people as possible.

It was good to hear from you. Keep looking for fancy tie knots. You don't have to mail them to me. You can email them and I can print them off.
I'm going to have to cut this short. It was good hearing from you.

-Elder Ben Cox