Hot as Heck!

July 24, 2016

Dear Family,

The human body is not meant to work in this much heat. The heat index was regularly over 110 every day this week. I think one of them was even 115. We lost our car, too. It got towed away in the middle of the week. However the insurance company declared it totaled on Monday, meaning we couldn't drive it anymore. That means every day was spent biking around in 100 degree heat and 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000%
humidity. It goes without saying, but I got some pretty good heat exhaustion this week.

-> Large Plates <-

-Monday-
We played tennis with some members instead of the usual frolfing or bowling. It was a lot of fun. My arm got a decent workout. Later on we got blizzards at DQ. It's always a bad idea eating ice cream at DQ because it's always freezing in there. Good ice cream though.

The GKLM's car guy called and said our car was officially totaled by the insurance company. But he didn't tell me that until the end of the day, so I drove it all day with no insurance without even knowing it :).

We finished the night at the Quints. They fed us Mexican BBQ chicken. It was really good. Again, actual Hispanic food prepared by actual Hispanics is really, really good.

-Tuesday-
This was one of the most productive days we've had in a long time. We biked around all day because we couldn't drive the car. It was miserably hot, but we did it anyway. At the beginning of the day, Elder Salazar felt impressed to knock on a certain door. An older lady named Angela answered and actually let us in to talk with her. We taught her most of the first lesson. It was a little difficult to teach her because she liked to talk a lot. A common problem with missionaries teaching Kentuckians. It was still a good visit though. She accepted a return appointment.

As we biked around we naturally came across many people on the streets. All but probably 2 of them were super nice people. Most of them let us talk with them for more than 5 seconds. It definitely makes missionary work much easier and happier when the people are nice. Even if they say "no", if they're nice about it, we won't get discouraged at all.

Our splits session this time was fantastic. I went out with Bro Ficker and Chase to see the young Tin family. We had a great visit with them. We read the Family Proclamation with them and they loved it. Bro Tin said he wants to get his kids involved with the youth programs because he remembers going to those when he was young and having fantastic experiences. Sis Tin said she's been seriously thinking about going to church. That whole family is so close to joining the church and Bro Tin is so close to reactivation.

When we got back I found that Elder Salazar went to visit Vic & Maku, and Ms Val. So he had a very successful night too.

-Wednesday-
Okay, I need to give you some background before I go into Wednesday. Over the past few weeks, we and Bro Emmert, our ward mission leader, have been trying to figure out how to get more member-present lessons. Lessons are a lot more powerful with members there because they can testify of the truths the missionaries teach and they can be a great fellowship for the investigators being taught.

Every Tuesday night we have splits where a bunch of members come together and split off with 1 missionary. It's fantastic the Owensboro ward does this, but not all of our investigators can meet Tuesday night. Splits is not enough. So we've come up with a sign-up sheet we pass around every week in the Elder's Quorum and the High Priest's Group. On the sign-up sheet, we request that 1 Elder and 1 High Priest go out with each set of missionaries on a day and time during the week that they are free. That way we can schedule appointments at times the members are available to come with us.

This is the first week we implemented this and it turned out very well. We had a lot of members sign up but unfortunately, our appointments fell through. Wednesday was a prime example of this.

On Wednesday morning we had Bro Lott, come out with us. We had an appointment with Ms H, but she wasn't able to meet so we went and saw the old Tins. Later on in the day, Bro Pursley came out with us. We had 2 set appointments set up for him and both of them fell through. We tried a total of 6 people today with members but no lessons. 

Towards the end of the day we found out this week was supposed to be the hottest week ever. That's just what I wanted to hear because we were on bikes this week.

-Thursday-
Thursday was miserable. I think the heat index got to 110 or something like that. We started off helping with the Pitino shelter again. On the ride home Elder Salazar wrecked his bike. I thought he broke his arm too, but he just cut it up a bit. Some lady saw what happened and came over with band-aids, neosporin, napkins, and medical alcohol. He was fine after a few minutes of rest.

I won't go into detail on who we biked to because no one answered. I'll just say that we biked from the middle of town, to the southern side of town, then to the northern side of town, then to the eastern side of town, then back to our apartment in the middle of town. It was not fun. I got some pretty good heat exhaustion from all that. We returned to our apartment a little early so we could shower and prepare for the Swopes.

Bro Ficker came and picked us up for the Swopes. Dinner at the Swopes was absolutely heavenly after the day we just went through. They had Fettuccini Alfredo and It tasted so good. After dinner we had a great lesson on repentance. It went super well. Someday Ms S will get baptized.

-Friday-
This was a good day. Bro Smith took us to Dee's Diner for breakfast. Then he took us to see Bro Fuqua in the hospital. He hurt himself recently. He's doing fine but he'll be recovering for a while. Next we had our last district meeting of the transfer. Elder Blake trained on effective finding. 

When we got out to work we saw Ms H, taught her the first half of L3 and finally got her a baptismal date. We made sure she understood what baptism was for. She easily accepted the date.

Next we saw the Goms. Bro Gom came out with us to try someone but they weren't there. So we went back to the Goms and they fed us fresh pineapple and tamales. They were fantastic.

At the end of the day the "Tellders" came to pick me up for an exchange. I went to Tell City with Elder Weyland for Saturday.

-Saturday-
Spent the day in Tell City. This was a much better exchange than I thought it was going to be. At the beginning of the day, Elder Weyland and I had a great study session. He shared with me his "Epistle". Basically it's a letter Elder Weyland wrote about all the natural problems that occur in leadership.

Elder Weyland has actually had a rather profound effect on the mission lately. I've noticed that mission leaders (zone leaders, district leaders, etc.) have been behaving a little differently lately. That's because of Elder Weyland. He's also the one responsible for bringing "The Brother of Jared Challenge" to the mission. He was the last missionary over the space of 2 years to finalize the Challenge and make it what it is now.

I could talk forever about this. Elder Weyland and I had a great time together. I learned a lot from him. Later on we got our transfer news. I found out I'm going to Hurstbourne, KY with Elder Williams. Hurstbourne is on the eastern side of Louisville so I'm basically going to Louisville. It's one of 3 areas in the mission that have Panda Express and it's the only area that has Carrabbas. I'm so excited :D.

Later on in Tell City we visited a LA family. They took us out to ice cream. By the time we finished with them, it was time to exchange back. We drove to Owensboro, exchanged back, and I finished the day by packing.

-Sunday-
This was a good church day full of good-byes. Unfortunately we didn't have the Fuquas or the Fedors after church so we had to feed ourselves. The whole day was spent saying "bye" to as many people as I could get to on a bike. I only got to a few but it was still good.

-> Small Plates <-

I don't have any long profound thoughts for you all this week.

Here's something I learned. I read this super short article in the newest Ensign about this lady who committed herself to more fully live the Word of Wisdom. She mentioned how she was 300 lbs and decided to try to live the Word of Wisdom more. As she tried to eat more fruits, vegetables, and grains, her cravings for junk foods vanished. And over the space of 23 months she lost half her weight. In 2 years she went from 300 lbs to 150 lbs. she didn't mentioned anything about exercising, though I sure she did some. After I read that i felt like I need to more fully live the Word of Wisdom. I am going to eat healthier. More fruits, veggies and things like that.

So, everyone, live the Word of Wisdom.

-> Closing Remarks <-
Even though this week was challenging, it was equally rewarding. We got a ton of member support even if we didn't teach many lessons. We were still provided with ways to see people who lived far out. A lot of members gave us rides this week.

You're awesome!

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox (GKLM)

Our District - Elder Salazar, Elder Gardanier, Elder Hicks, Elder Stanley,
Hermana Parra, Hermana Fluckiger, Sister Reed, Elder Reed,
Elder Weyland, Elder Murdoch, and Elder Cox. Elder Blake is on the ground.

We biked for days...!