Hey all,
I thought last week was challenging... well, Heavenly Father showed me otherwise! This past week was the most challenging week I have had in this area. Even though we have seen some great progression with the active members, the less-actives are progressing very, very slowly. The active ones are beginning to realise they have to band together or else the church is going to fall apart and they are going to have no church anymore.
We had a great time this week with having members work with us and with storms and flooding around our house and even a motorcycle accident (well, not really accident, more of it just fell over...), but I'll explain more about those incidents later.
The work has been going well. We have quite a few families we have been focusing on their Family Scripture Study and seen that it really helps them improve and focus on the gospel in their families. We were also able to get one of the members to come with us to this one really far area where we have some members with really strong faith and really strong feet. They are progressing well and are aiming for the temple this September.
The stormy weather has really affected our work this week, making it again, impossible to get to some areas while it is raining. We have really tried to follow the Spirit as we change our plans to accommodate for the weather and often pray so hard that the rains will be stayed so that we can accomplish the work of the Lord in these areas. We had an amazing experience with that just this past Monday where the rains were stayed for the whole day while we harvested the rice for one of our less-active families wit the zone. The father of the family was so surprised when he saw 18 missionaries turn up to help out his harvest. It was a great experience.
In that same area the day before was where we saw the hand of the Lord protect us from something that could have been a much worse accident. We were going up the mountain in the one part of our area that afternoon where it turns out the day before the storm had almost destroyed the road, and it was all basically rocks now. The driver we have was very careful and thankfully going slowly so that when he lost his balance on this one part of the road, the motor just fell over. Luckily Elder Padilla jumped off the bike, and my pants got a little burnt on the under parts of the motor when it fell over but other than that, there was nothing else that had happened. We were very lucky and thankful that Heavenly Father always watches out for his missionaries.
So it also flooded outside our house Sun morning and we thought we were going to have to wade though the water to get to church but it turned out that it subsided before we left the house so it was all good.
I got the package from the ZL's after the CSP we had on Mon. The CSP was great and we hired a truck form the municipal to get up the mountain, cause i was nice and thought about the sister missionaries (see how kind i am Mum) and that it would be safer than the motors on that road. Then we spent 2 and half hours harvesting the humay (rice) and collecting it up. Thankyou soo much for the package and all the things inside. How did you know I love jumping frogs!? Love you!
I love you all so much,
One year has gone so fast (almost)...
Miss you,
Love you all,
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
************************************************************************************************************
Terri here: We sent Taylor a package for his birthday (18th July) and made sure it got there before his actual birthday. The company I send the packages with check everything before it's sealed up, so we couldn't wrap any thing in the box, so he asked for "consumables", which are things he could either eat or something the missionaries play with and then give away to the local kids....hence "the jumping frogs". So he's opened it already before his birthday and is enjoying the things we sent!!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Letter #48 (July 3rd, 2012)
Hey all, hows things doin there?
We are doing fairly well in Zamboanguita after being hit with a round
of illness just this last weekend. We are recovering well and
continuing with our work. This last week has been fun trying to work
with all the rain that has been occurring and we have been wet quite a
few time this week... which is probably why we ended up getting sick.
But dont worry mum! we are always using our trusty raincoats or
umbrellas... but when its bagio, is bagio jud... the rain comes
sideways!
We also had companion exchanges this last Thursday with our district
leader, and I learned so much from the experience. We had so much fun
and I also got to cook spagetti the propper white person way! with an
italian style sauce! Mmmmm... lami! I have started making more smaller
goals for a daily basis and using an evaluation sheet each night to
evaluate what things I need to improve from a day to day basis. I has
really started to help me to see areas where I need improvement. It has
also helped me to focus my study on areas that need improvement.
This week we have really focused on working with the branch members to
strengthen the branch as there is contention and other no very good
feelings entering into the hearts of some members. We are trying so
hard to keep the branch working and fulfilling responsibilities as we
combat the problems that are seeping in. We are finding it relatively
hard to bring the less-actives back to church when there are these
problems at the moment... we are really trying to
focus on including the members in the work and that seems to be
helping. We have seen a real change in the attitude of the members
about missionary work and they are coming out with us more often to
work. This coming Sunday we have a training meeting for the leaders
and all other members who wish to attend, about missionary work as
members and working in the branch council to help with this. We have
decided to use the PMG sections from chapter 13 to help the members
understand about our role as missionaries and about their role as
members in helping this work to progress forward.
As much as the work has become really hard just recently, I have to
say I am really enjoying it.I see that
even though the area is being quite a challenge at the moment, I am
still progressing as a missionary and there are members that are
coming back to church, and investigators progressing towards
baptism... even if it is ever so slowly.
One thing I have really come to realize is how everything we have
is from our loving Heavenly Father and that we can be more caring and
loving towards others if we remember that. One of our less-actives
said something that really stood out to me in her prayer. She started
out by saying "Thank thee for our blessings..." but caught herself in
the middle of saying "our" and stopped. Then she said, "Thank thee for
the blessings that thou hast given us...". I realized that we don't
always recognize the Lords hand in the lives he has given us as
often as we should. It was a wake up call for me the realize that
everything I have is not really mine... but from my Heavenly Father.
Nothing that I have is truly "mine", but a blessing that has been
given. Mosiah 2:25 "Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust
of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but
behold, it belongeth to him who created you."
Our Heavenly Father loves us so much, we do not truly understand how much...
Miss you all, and love you all so much!
Love, Elder Taylor Addison Cox
We are doing fairly well in Zamboanguita after being hit with a round
of illness just this last weekend. We are recovering well and
continuing with our work. This last week has been fun trying to work
with all the rain that has been occurring and we have been wet quite a
few time this week... which is probably why we ended up getting sick.
But dont worry mum! we are always using our trusty raincoats or
umbrellas... but when its bagio, is bagio jud... the rain comes
sideways!
We also had companion exchanges this last Thursday with our district
leader, and I learned so much from the experience. We had so much fun
and I also got to cook spagetti the propper white person way! with an
italian style sauce! Mmmmm... lami! I have started making more smaller
goals for a daily basis and using an evaluation sheet each night to
evaluate what things I need to improve from a day to day basis. I has
really started to help me to see areas where I need improvement. It has
also helped me to focus my study on areas that need improvement.
This week we have really focused on working with the branch members to
strengthen the branch as there is contention and other no very good
feelings entering into the hearts of some members. We are trying so
hard to keep the branch working and fulfilling responsibilities as we
combat the problems that are seeping in. We are finding it relatively
hard to bring the less-actives back to church when there are these
problems at the moment... we are really trying to
focus on including the members in the work and that seems to be
helping. We have seen a real change in the attitude of the members
about missionary work and they are coming out with us more often to
work. This coming Sunday we have a training meeting for the leaders
and all other members who wish to attend, about missionary work as
members and working in the branch council to help with this. We have
decided to use the PMG sections from chapter 13 to help the members
understand about our role as missionaries and about their role as
members in helping this work to progress forward.
As much as the work has become really hard just recently, I have to
say I am really enjoying it.I see that
even though the area is being quite a challenge at the moment, I am
still progressing as a missionary and there are members that are
coming back to church, and investigators progressing towards
baptism... even if it is ever so slowly.
One thing I have really come to realize is how everything we have
is from our loving Heavenly Father and that we can be more caring and
loving towards others if we remember that. One of our less-actives
said something that really stood out to me in her prayer. She started
out by saying "Thank thee for our blessings..." but caught herself in
the middle of saying "our" and stopped. Then she said, "Thank thee for
the blessings that thou hast given us...". I realized that we don't
always recognize the Lords hand in the lives he has given us as
often as we should. It was a wake up call for me the realize that
everything I have is not really mine... but from my Heavenly Father.
Nothing that I have is truly "mine", but a blessing that has been
given. Mosiah 2:25 "Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust
of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but
behold, it belongeth to him who created you."
Our Heavenly Father loves us so much, we do not truly understand how much...
Miss you all, and love you all so much!
Love, Elder Taylor Addison Cox
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