Letter #60 (Sept 26th, 2012)

Hey all,
This week has been a great week and has been very interesting (as
every week seems to be...). Elder Pastor and I are doing well and the
work is great. We managed to achieve 31 lessons this past week with a
district CSP, and we have a baptism this coming Saturday. Our focus
has definitely been on our investigators this week, working with some
towards baptism and others we have just begun teaching, but all are
doing really well and are progressing (some faster than others). We
also have 2 new referrals that we will get to contact this week. We
have continued to work with our investigators and have some very
interesting excuses given to us. But the best story happened just
yesterday...
So we have this one inactive member who is afraid to leave his house,
he just will not go out side and he won't even open the door for you
unless he knows who you are. So we were trying to figure out what the
situation was with him and share doctrine with him. And yesterday I
went on splits with Elder Rasing bringing him to work in our area, and
we visited this member. So first thing we say is "It was a shame you
weren't at church on Sunday" and he replies with, "I've already
explained to you my situation and you haven't told your President...
so you keep coming back here and asking me to go to church." I've
visited with this member so many times with Elder Pastor now and to be
honest doesn't make much sense sometimes so I was just bold and
upfront with him and said, "Look, Brother V, there are no excuses
valid in the eyes of God..." and he said, "Yeah that's true, but..."
and then said a bunch of stuff that made no sense. At this point Elder
Rasing was totally confused at the situation and asked Brother Victor
what his situation was... So he proceeded to tell us about this one
family who is really rich in the area, who owns likes tons of property
and started listing off this guys property and lands... so Elder
Rasing is like "So, whats this got to do with you...?", and he
proceeds to tell this story about how this family supposedly killed to
get some lands and properties... and we are still like... "So what has
all this got to do with you and not going to church?"... so it turns
out at the end of his 45min rambling about this family, that he is
somehow this long lost child of the family who is the true inheritor
of the property (or so he says), that he tried to take it to court,
but supposedly received death threats, and the whole thing is
completely hearsay in my point of view... then we tried to teach him
about the scriptures in Jacob 2 and 3 Nephi 13 about seeking first the
kingdom of God and not riches... we encouraged him to drop the whole
matter so he didn't have to worry about the matter and get back to
church. Then he got annoyed with us for saying that... he was so
obsessed with getting this property that nothing else was worth
considering. Then we even tried the Alma technique of inspired
questions about standing before God. We asked him if he was ready in
that very moment to stand before God, and he answered us he wasn't
ready, because the issue with the properties wasn't resolved (WHAT!?
O.o).
Honestly this man has become so obsessed with the issue that I believe
he has gone a little crazy. From where I was standing and putting
myself in the same situation I could see a glaringly obvious
solution... give up the riches and trust in the Lord to help you
provide. But for this brother, it was not an option. The only thing he
could see was all this property that was supposedly his, and he wanted
it all. Then AFTER he got it he would come back to church and help his
fellowmen, or so he said... yesterday, I saw how someone can become a
slave to money, or worldly possessions and how someones life can be
completely destroyed by them. I truly realized how worthless all that
property was, in compared with peace of mind, a free life and
opportunity to worship God. I pray for this brother that he may come
to realize as well how worthless all that property really is, and will
come back to church and be blessed by the Lord for it.
Now... about our exchanges. Elder Rasing is a great missionary! He
really knows the doctrine and can explain in clearly in simple terms.
He is always studying and his scriptures are an explosion of color on
every page almost. I am amazed by his enthusiasm for the work and his
desire is great.
Then this past Monday, we had a great CSP in the Danao 1st area
which we built a kitchen and dug up a ton of dirt. Tatay Penas was not
expecting us to complete as much as we did and was amazed at the end
of the CSP.
So we also had Elder Perez of the Seventy come and visit our branch
and it was great!... cause hes a joker and had us all laughing in
sacrament and then again in the training meeting he gave in the branch
council meeting.
So that's pretty much it this week... oh wait
This week I realised why they call Danao "gun city"... so there was
this one day that we were going to our appointments and I saw four
different people making guns and bullets, as in the REAL ones!
Whoa! It was CRAZY!
But I miss you all,
And love you tons,
Elder Taylor Addison Cox

Letter #59 (Sept 18th, 2012)

Hey all,
So this week has been busy,and we definitely didn't get the same amount
 of lessons and things this week. So last Thursday night we (ako and si
Elder Perez, the DL in Camotes) went to Liloan to stay with the ZLs
that night, before heading to Cebu that next morning for leadership
training with President Schmutz. It was great and he gave an amazing
workshop on commitment. That evening we headed back to danao... then on
sat and sun we had stake conference in Liloan again so we stayed there
again for those nights and had a good time with our zone mates taking
about things. I swear there are more members here in our stake than in
our stake back home... easily! The chapel was full and the cultural
hall and the stage and the cultural hall here in long and wide. Then
Monday we had a csp in Carmen in the sisters area, and got to have one
lesson in the evening and then I made tuna grey sauce for dinner...
just to let you know, there are no such things as scales here so I had
to guesstimate the ingredients and guess what... it turned out great!
cause I'm just awesome! Then yesterday we got kugihan and got 7 lessons
and got punted in the evening... we could have had a good 10 lessons
or so if that hadn't happened. But we are still having lots of fun here
in the area.
Elder Daffon in from China... town Davao city...he has some Asian
blood that comes through pretty strong. Then Elder Rasing is from
Manila somewhere I forgot. 
I've tried the recipes... just check out the awesome results in the photos!
Haven't really got photos of the area cause we've been busy working in
it!... jujuju... but I'll try and get some for you... its a pretty city
in a bukid kind of way if you get what I mean. and we get round on
these little tricycle things that are push bikes attached to a cab
body thing... I'll get a picture. and of course we still use
habal-habal as well occasionally.
The fiesta made it crazy here in Danao on the weekend and it was fun
trying to get back to our apartment that Sunday after stake conference.
It was like trying to weave through a maze of people and avoid the
main parade to find where we could cross the road to get to the side
with our apartment. Fun!...
So yeah... don't really know what else to write, other than...
HAPPY B'DAY MUM!
...hahaha... you thought I almost forgot again...
Well hope you enjoyed it, and have fun this week as well
miss you all,
love you tons,
Love Elder Taylor Addison Cox

Letter #58 (Sept 12, 2012)

Hey all, so thanks for getting those things for me... but again... you forgot the gravy recipe. Ok ra... but can you please get it to me for next week. And I thought I remembered pikelets being a lot easier to make... aw well... pancakes na lang. So this week has been AWESOME!!! we got 28 lessons in the week, as well as 153 i2ls and then we had 141 people attend sacrament meeting. We played basketball with the members one morning for exercise. We have been fed about 5 times this last week and have free electricity and water in the house (even though the water was way claro this last week and kept coming on and off periodically)... we are having so much fun and working so hard... I have never felt so tired as i have here in the " big city". So I got some pics for you all... of me and my comp. and of our house... then of this old Nanay that built her own weaving machine thingo-ma-jiggy... so yeah... So this last week its been raining almost every night here, which is nice kay it gets nice and cool in the evening for when we sleep. Last Thursday we had training from the zls, it was really good and so the focus of district meeting is now doing workshops from PMG. Then after the training meeting we went to this one area and had a less active member help us find this one sister that has not been to church for 9 years since she married her husband and he has a problem for some reason with her going to church... way claro bana... and then she prayer at the end of the lesson and cried and then just yesterday as well... she really wants to come back to church but her bana is just way claro. Then we have another family that we walked to church with sister and her 5 kids... it was the first time in 9 years she had been to church. It was an amazing experience. And then one of our investigators ended up in hospital with "dentry" (???) but we gave her a blessing before she went in and then while she was there and she seems to be doing okay now. Then we had PEC on Sat, and I got volunteered to teach piano this coming 22 and now have to figure out how I'm gonna do that. What else... oh, you'll be proud mum... we cleaned the balay and almost have the CR (Terri here: This is the toilet!) clean and spotless... we ran out of muratic acid, but now we bought some so hopefully this week it will be clean and I will take photos to show how clean it looks once we are done. So we've been pretty busy and all over the place this week. But it has been great! Its fun and tiring and a different experience to the bukid, for sure. So that's it for this week... miss you gamay, Love you daghan, Elder Taylor Addison Cox

Letter #57 (Sept 5th, 2012)

Hey all, This weeks been great and yeah we felt it... the whole house was swaying back and forth... i was actually closer to it cause we are in Danao, which is to the north of Cebu, which is closer to the epicentre which was in Leyte... di ba? We were planning for the next day when it hit... first of all i just thought i had a headache, until i looked around and saw everything shaking. It lasted for a good 30secs or so. but it was all cool... My new companion is awesome... Elder Pastor is so cool and down to earth, but kugihan and always willing to go to work! On the Sat and Sun that i got into Danao after transfers there was 13 lessons that we taught and 50 i2ls... then just Monday and yesterday we have had another 9 lessons and 73 i2ls... we are tearing it up here in Danao 2! His family are also members and he has one other brother who is an RM. He is from Bacolod and is in the middle of his criminology studies. I have to get a good photo to send you of us two. Im am still in a branch though! our area is a branch attached to a ward... so we are working really hard to get the priesthood back so they can become a ward. But the funny thing is even though we are the branch in the area, we get more attendance in sacrament than the other wards. So now I am in an apartment with 4 elders... me, E.Pastor, E.Daffon, and E.Rasing. They are all pinoy from different places and we all get along and have a great time. Elder Daffon and Elder Rasing are great companions to have in the house. Elder Daffon is a great example to us all, and is always deep in the area book each night and setting an example for me and my companion. Elder Rasing seems so eager to work as well and is always talking with someone. He is an energetic missionary with a lot of excitement to give. I am very excited for this next transfer and the things that are in store for this area. I can see how the Lord has placed me in this area and this apartment for a wise purpose and I am ready to do my part to help out and get things done. Now there are 4 of us in the apartment we do a ton of cooking... so i need some recipes; pancakes, pikelets, tuna grey sauce (Terri here:this is what he has called Tuna Mornay since he was little!!), and other simple recipes for the stove top. Then my companion was wondering if you have a nindot gravy recipe as well. Salamat daan! So this letter is pretty taas now... oh wait... so the branch hasnt had a fluent whits dude for a while now so they were very surprise when I was able to speak very fluently in Visaya and excited. The branch is progressing well and has two sister missionaries that just came home from their missions on that Friday i transferred into the area. They have been a bit of a help already with one giving us a new investigator... we have 3 new investigators just this last 5 days and i am excited cause this area is way more fast paced compared to zambo... sooooo hinay! So I should have a ton of stories and pictures for next week as well. Miss you a little (jejeje), Love you tons, Elder Taylor Addison Cox