Dear Family,
I forgot my journal so I'm not going to be able to detail day for day this time.
I'm not going to lie, this was a hard week to get through. A lot of people dropped us. We spent a lot of time finding with little success. But with all the lows, there were extreme highs too.
On Monday I went bike shopping! There's this new bike shop in town called "Big O Bike Shop" that just barely opened up the Wednesday before I went there. That means I was the first LDS missionary to ever buy a bike there. Bro Emmert, who's an avid bike rider, told me about them and said I should check them out. I went and had a great experience. They're still in their temporary location. It's a little store and the staff was great. They were kind and super helpful. They led me to buy a Trek, a really nice bike that only weighs 23 pounds. It was a little more I wanted to pay for a bike but it should be worth it. It should last well beyond my mission. I'm definitely shipping it home when I'm done out here. :)
Later on Monday we went bowling with Mr J. He's an excommunicated member. He's a super nice guy and still believes in the church. He's just ex'd for some reason. Earlier in his life he almost went pro in bowling. As we were playing with him, he was striking almost every throw. It was insane! Later on in the week, he hosted us for the first two General Conference sessions on Saturday. He provided food and drinks :)
General Conference was fantastic as always. Yes, I did get to watch it. I actually realized I'll get 5 General Conferences on my mission. My last week is going to be a General Conference week. I think that's pretty cool! I really enjoyed President Nelson's talk. I thought it was great that he told us more of what happened with those 2 girls and their family. It was a great story. I laughed a little bit with Elder Holland's last talk. He was right when he said, "I didn't want tomorrow." I really didn't. I wanted more conference. I wanted more of that great feeling. But I've come to learn that without contrast, spiritual highs are not really highs at all. I also laughed when President Uchtdorf jokingly declared German to be the celestial language. :)
I'll work on sending my notes to you. I didn't take as many this time. I should have them to you by next week.
I hit my year mark this week! It didn't really hit me until I realized that meant I've been out for 12 months! 12 MONTHS! Have I really been doing this for that long? My days in the MTC and with Elder Lynch feel like so long ago. But at the same time, I feel like I just left home last week. It's crazy!
I didn't realize how much I've grown until Sister Brough pointed it out to me a few weeks ago in our last interview. She said when I first came out, I looked terrified. I was. Everything was new, and I had no idea what I was doing. But she said now I've completely lost that look of fear. As I've thought about that interview, I've realized a couple things. To an extent, I still am terrified. It's not nearly as bad as when I came out but I still feel fear. I still worry about teaching the right thing, finding those who are ready, using my time effectively, and even contacting still scares me. But what's changed in the last year? What's changed to allow me to lose the look of fear and feel far more confident in the work? It's because I have come to know Jesus Christ. I have come to develop a relationship with Him. I've come to know how He does His work. And I have come to know His teachings.
When I first came out I didn't know much. I knew the doctrines and had some personal experiences but I didn't know a whole lot. And that was the ultimate source of my early fear, not knowing. But now that I've been out for a year, I have come to know. There's so much more that I know now. And from this knowledge I can draw confidence. There is no need for fear now.
On another note, Cl and L dropped us this week. They've "decided not to be Mormon." We asked them why and they didn't give an answer. We'll probably try back later. They were too solid to just give up like that. We're also going to be unable to teach J, the 12 year old anymore. His mom got in the way.
Those are some of the highlights of this week. It was good, but long. It had some disappointments and some happy moments. I would say this week is a great example of what missions are like. It had everything in it.
B should be getting baptized this Saturday. If we were still in the trio, he would count as my first baptism. But since he's in the bike elders area, he won't. :(
Thanks for the box again! It's fantastic. I haven't given out Little Miss' BoM yet. I want to give it to someone who I know will read it. I have a couple people in mind. I'll let you know how that goes.
Loves!
-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)
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| My brand new bike - weighs only 23 lbs! |
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| #Selfie #ChickFilA |
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| At the car wash! |
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| :) |
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