Best Dinner Appt EVER... and Dogs...

June 8, 2015

Dear Family,

Yeah, "The District" is pretty much what life is like for me now. We'll be doing away with the planners and area books soon now that we have i-Pads. The Area Book Planner app should be coming out today. If it does, then all that fun stuff will be on the iPads. 

I don't even know where to start with this week, but whatever, here I go!

There was this guy we met at like 8pm who was just drunk out of his mind. He was asking us questions like "Why is dog spelled 'dog'? Who named it 'dog'? Why would they name those things 'dogs'?" He later asked us questions about obedience like "If your prophet came out and said that every member had to stand with their legs apart and kick each other in the privates for 30 minutes, would you do it?" He was a really weird guy. 

We had a lesson with a 19 year old who just graduated and is looking to major in political science and minor in social studies. We gave him lesson 1 and I don't know what happened or what was different but when we showed him a 4 minute clip of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove, the Spirit just exploded. I had to tell the Spirit to "calm down" in my head. It was absolutely intense.

Yesterday was Elder Lynch's 21st birthday. It was an extremely good day for both of us. Except the fact that it was Fast Sunday and I suffered my way through most of it, but some really good things happened. At church, some investigators came that we weren't planning on coming and later that night we had the best dinner appointment EVER! We ate at the Bowen family's home. They're a part-member family who really like us. They made us Chicken Parm, Salads, Spaghetti, Chocolate Cake, and RED VELVET CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING! Here's our story with them. We first met them when we found out they were doing a 5k fundraiser for their son. We asked them in what ways could we help with that, so they said we could help direct people on the trail. The day of the 5k came, we helped out and after we helped, they gave us cookies. Not just any cookies, but those peanut butter Hershey Kiss cookies I love! A couple weeks after that their son graduated from High School and we went to their graduation party. We ate and talked and somehow the subject of Elder Lynch's birthday came up. Sis. Bowen asked what he wanted for a birthday dinner and he said chicken parm. She also asked about what cake he wanted but he was hesitant on that request. I jumped in and said "I like red velvet". I didn't think she would actually make it. Elder Lynch said he liked chocolate. Yesterday at the dinner appointment, we find out that she made BOTH. After fasting for as long as I did (about 22 hours), I was almost in tears at how good everything she made was. The food was extremely well made and the cake almost compared to Mom's. She even gave us half the cakes to take back to the apartment. There's only one other person in the branch who makes food that good and he was the one who made us those amazing pastrami burgers. 

I... still hate dogs.... Every time I knock on someone's house, their stupid dogs won't shut up!.... There was this little, drop-kickable​ dog at some member's house that bit me twice. It didn't hurt at all.... There's another dog at another member's house that's big AND energetic. That thing jumps all over me every time I go to that members home. Just yesterday there was a dog at an investigator's house that hit me in the privates. That didn't feel good. There seems to be two kinds of dogs here. Little ones, and BEAR-sized ones. Seriously, some of the dogs here are absolutely massive. Imagine Mr. Guinn on all fours. That's how big the dogs here get. Elder Lynch's favorite thing that I've said is related to dogs. Here's the story. We were tracting in the smallest town known to man and as we walked by someone's yard, their 200 dogs started barking at us.. I said "I hate dogs". Elder Lynch said "Oh come on, they're man's best friend. :)" to which I replied "I'd rather eat them." 

I'm sorry to hear about the Anderson's and Grandma Eva. I'll definitely keep them in my prayers. Nana and Papa K. sent me some Sprouts gummy bears and mint M&M's. That was a great surprise! 

Street contacting is pretty interesting and going better now. The hardest thing for me now is starting the contact. I can talk to them easily after the conversation has been started. That's where we honestly get most of the people we teach. Out of every 100 people we talk to only about 1 or 2 will be interested in the church. 

I'd say the number one reason people don't investigate the church is they just don't care about religion anymore. There are those who aren't religious, who don't care to try religion, and there are those who are so complacent in their religion that they don't care to hear us out. Here are the top 3 reasons I've found that people won't investigate the church

1. Complacency. They're so stuck in their ways that they won't bother changing.

2. Lies about the church i.e. plural marriage, racism.

3. "The Book of Mormon adds to the Bible which Revelations clearly states is a sin". This one is so common it's not even funny. 

I've gotten pretty dang good at explaining those last two points. The one that's the absolute kicker is complacency. It's hard to get people to see the value of what we're offering them. It's something they have to experience but if they're not willing to experience it they'll never know.

That's what most of the people I talk to are like. But there are those few that are just absolutely amazing and extremely prepared. Yesterday during Church, a couple of our investigators came in. We weren't planning on them showing up because they had been sick for a while. It was fast and testimony meeting and one of them even got up and bore her testimony about the church saying things like "I'm not a member yet, but I'm looking forward to becoming one. "I know the church is true." Later, we met with them at their home and they said they felt more comfortable there than at any other church they've been at. They felt at home. The husband said when he walked in,  he felt something on his back. He felt like someone put their hand on his back and said "Welcome home". 

Thank you for all the things you both do for me. It really helps. I actually used those Isiah verses you sent me on an investigator later that day. 

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" (Isa 41:10) and "Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;... For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour... Since thou was precious in my sight,... I have loved thee... Fear not: for I am with thee" (Isa 43:1-5)

I can't thank you enough for all the advice. It really helps. Thanks for keeping me up on all the major events.Thanks for the tie knots! I still need you to re-send the tie knot charts you sent me last week. The picture didn't come through all that great. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox 

I was about to send pics when the computer kicked me off. I'm a little squished for time right now. I should have more next week. There's an app that I can download to get pictures from my camera to my iPad. I don't know what the app is and I can't just be downloading apps off the App Store, so if you could find out for me, that would be great.