Hey all,
Things are amazing! I am doing well physically, working out
again with weights, and spiritually as well, having been just blown away
by President Schmutz's workshop in ZLC yesterday about why obedience is
the first law in Heaven.
Our interviews got changed over from the Fri to Mon 5th... so that
Monday we had the interviews which started with a workshop from
president then we did our workshop and were quickly interview by
President Schmutz before heading out early to catch the bus to Cebu for
ZLC the very next day. So at 3pm we were on the bus to Cebu and by 9pm
we finally made it. We ate at KFC and then slept at the Ap's apartment.
That next morning ZLC started at 9am at the chapel by the temple, were
in we all reported our zone progress and then President Schmutz gave his
Spirit filled workshop for a good 2 hours. Then we had an amazing lunch
done up by Sister Schmutz and Sister Ernstrom (the office couple
sister) It was all American style food, with hamburgers, hotdogs and
chilly beans... real cheese, and even yellow corn! Then a desert of
cheese cake (again the real stuff) with ice cream and blueberries. Oh,
it was sooo good! Then we went back to workshops from the office couple
about the funds and other things and then a workshop by the AP's on the
Area Book. It was a busy day, then we had to rush to catch the bus back
that night to Negros but when we got to the terminal... NO SEATS! NOOOO!
so we got stuck there that night sleeping at Apas again before we
sakay-ed back this morning on the Ceres, getting back at 10:30 Soooo
kapoy!
So well be back to work again these next few days and will try to catch
up on the lessons. Just a few things i wanna request for the package...
don't forget vegemite and cherry ripe. Thank you daan!
Sister D-A came to church again and really feels something there,
which is good... so now we just have to help her kids all feel something
too, but they're all independent adults right now and starting to get
their own jobs and things so we have to work around 3 separate schedules
to fit everyone in... but I'm sure it'll work out some how.
All the Americans are on about the election today... we'll see how that turns out.
I've
finished reading "The Miracle of Forgiveness". Truly an amazing book...
and I gained so many insights into the process of repentance and the
Atonement. A funny book to read,
if you find a copy, is the "Day of Defense". Great references of
doctrine to share with people.
So that's pretty much it for now... things are doing great and I will try
to take some pictures this week for you, so you can see just how much of
paradise this place really is!
Miss you all,
Love you always
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Letter #65 (31 Oct, 2012)
Hey all,
This week has been good. We've had some challenges but we are doing
okay. All Saints Day isn't until the 2nd of Nov, and it is just
another holiday that makes our work hard, with no-one at home to
teach.
We had a great success of a referral from Elder and Sister Cropper. we
met this one family which the referred to us on Saturday and Elder and
Sister Cropper came with us to visit with them. They were just so
prepared to receive the message of the restored gospel and we sang
hymn 300 "Families Can Be Together Forever" with them and they were
all crying by the end. They really want blessings fro their family as
they see that it is falling apart. They came to church the very next
day and sister Barrdea, the mother in the family spoke to me at the
end of the Sunday services. She said, "Thank you elder, I felt that I
have found something today here. I think I will continue with this,
starting by reading this book," and she held up a copy of the Book of
Mormon. It was a miracle for this family that they were able to
receive the resorted gospel, and they are truly an elect family,
having been prepared for this moment in their life. I know they will
find a great strength and happiness for their family through this
gospel and eventually as they are sealed in the temple for time and
all eternity as a family.
Elder Manansala and I have been doing well. We are starting to really
feel true unity in our teaching and have seen the power of the Spirit
manifest itself in our lessons with our investigators as they keep
their commitments and continue to progress towards baptism.
I have begun to focus on the Book of Mormon again reading a chapter
everyday in Cebuano and re-reading in English and looking for things
to apply in my teaching for that day. It has really helped to make
teaching more meaningful and effective.
Other than that, we have been doing the usual missionary work here in
Amlan... teaching the investigators, preparing them for baptism,
helping the LA's get back to church and sorting out problems with
rumors among the members... as a missionary in the Philippines you
gotta get things straightened out in terms of the gossip that goes on
and re-inform all the members of the truth.
Sorry that this is very short this week but most of my time was spent
emailing President Schmutz today. Tell Reilly that I love him, and
keep up his diligent work in school... I'll be praying for him.
Love you all!
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
This week has been good. We've had some challenges but we are doing
okay. All Saints Day isn't until the 2nd of Nov, and it is just
another holiday that makes our work hard, with no-one at home to
teach.
We had a great success of a referral from Elder and Sister Cropper. we
met this one family which the referred to us on Saturday and Elder and
Sister Cropper came with us to visit with them. They were just so
prepared to receive the message of the restored gospel and we sang
hymn 300 "Families Can Be Together Forever" with them and they were
all crying by the end. They really want blessings fro their family as
they see that it is falling apart. They came to church the very next
day and sister Barrdea, the mother in the family spoke to me at the
end of the Sunday services. She said, "Thank you elder, I felt that I
have found something today here. I think I will continue with this,
starting by reading this book," and she held up a copy of the Book of
Mormon. It was a miracle for this family that they were able to
receive the resorted gospel, and they are truly an elect family,
having been prepared for this moment in their life. I know they will
find a great strength and happiness for their family through this
gospel and eventually as they are sealed in the temple for time and
all eternity as a family.
Elder Manansala and I have been doing well. We are starting to really
feel true unity in our teaching and have seen the power of the Spirit
manifest itself in our lessons with our investigators as they keep
their commitments and continue to progress towards baptism.
I have begun to focus on the Book of Mormon again reading a chapter
everyday in Cebuano and re-reading in English and looking for things
to apply in my teaching for that day. It has really helped to make
teaching more meaningful and effective.
Other than that, we have been doing the usual missionary work here in
Amlan... teaching the investigators, preparing them for baptism,
helping the LA's get back to church and sorting out problems with
rumors among the members... as a missionary in the Philippines you
gotta get things straightened out in terms of the gossip that goes on
and re-inform all the members of the truth.
Sorry that this is very short this week but most of my time was spent
emailing President Schmutz today. Tell Reilly that I love him, and
keep up his diligent work in school... I'll be praying for him.
Love you all!
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
Letter #64 (24th Oct, 2012)
Hey all,
This week has been great! Elder Manansala and I have a great time
every evening talking about all sorts of doctrine and about our
investigators, all of whom are progressing so well. We have 4
baptismal dates for this November and both of us are so hopeful that
we will have two transfers together in Amlan.
To answer your questions, the branch is great. There is actually a
larger body of priesthood here than in any other branch I have been in
(even our ward... hahaha).
The work of a zone leader does leave you very tired at the end of some days.
We have ZLC (zone leader coordination) on the 6th of Nov and we will head
in to Cebu to the mission home for that. The Zone is an interesting group of
missionaries. We actually went on splits Monday and yesterday with the Bindoy
elders. I was with Elder Veloria in Bindoy and had a great experience. The work
is going well in Amlan. We met a family this week that has a very difficult
situation. They are 9 in their family and all members but they are
living in an old baptist church that is no longer used for services.
They are severely persecuted by the owner of the house and have
stopped coming to church because of it. Not only that but there are
other members who are also persecuting the family saying they have
apostatized and all sorts of things which both Elder Manansala and I
feel are not true, especially after visiting with them and feeling
their testimonies about the church. They are one of our focuses this
week and we will try and get the members to look out for another place
for them to live, as Sister M, the mother of the family, expressed her desire
to get away from the house so they can start coming back to church.
We also visited with this one member, Sister L, that is constantly
visited by the Jehovah's witnesses and heard her hilarious stories of
their visits with her. She said it started out with just the ordinary
members coming to visit, two sisters, that were sharing a message
about equality of women in the world and the church. They said
something like "In some churches women are seen as under the men..."
and so on, then Sister L, replied, "Oh is that how it is in your
sect, because in our church we are equals!" I laughed so hard... then
in ended up that the members stopped coming to visit and this one man
started to visit, who had a lot more knowledge than the others. She
suspects he is the pastor. And then she continues to outsmart this
pastor in every visit they have. The other incident that is my
favorite is when they were talking about some doctrine that was
different and the pastor says "oh, so that's how it is in your
church?" and Sister replied "No, that's how it is for all of us, it
says so right here in the Bible..." Oh, how I laughed. This Sister is
a great example of how to share the gospel without being offensive but
being upfront about her beliefs.
Things have been doing well with Elder Manansala, and we are getting
along really well. We have quite a bit in common with one another and
we are having fun getting lost in the work. We were so thankful to
Heavenly Father that we achieved the standards for the lessons this
past week and are excited for what we can achieve this transfer.
We gave a blessing of comfort and counsel to a very distraught Sister, and
as I acted voice for the blessing, I was overwhelmed... I cannot fully
explain what I was feeling but I think it touched the realms of the
love Heavenly Father has for this Sister, his concern and fatherly
care. I was choked up and brought to tears myself and amazed at the
things I was saying. The priesthood is a very sacred power.
Just yesterday I had another experience in giving a blessing to this
one girl that had a fever and she was crying because of the pain she
was in. The moment I spoke the words "We bless you with a peace for
your body from the illness..." She fell asleep. We we had finished
giving the blessing she was peacefully resting, fast asleep. There is
no doubt in my mind right now about the power in the priesthood. We
have given so many blessings these past weeks and the feelings I have
as we do so are amazing. Sometimes I feel like we are about to burst
through the veil as we give the blessing, it is just exhilarating.
I just love the work we have experienced here in Amlan, and I have
felt an amazing burst of spirituality in my teaching and study and
just everything this last week. It was like I burst through some glass
barrier of spiritual level.
I love it here in Amlan and as a zone leader. Its so much fun!
Miss you all,
and love you all tons!
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
This week has been great! Elder Manansala and I have a great time
every evening talking about all sorts of doctrine and about our
investigators, all of whom are progressing so well. We have 4
baptismal dates for this November and both of us are so hopeful that
we will have two transfers together in Amlan.
To answer your questions, the branch is great. There is actually a
larger body of priesthood here than in any other branch I have been in
(even our ward... hahaha).
The work of a zone leader does leave you very tired at the end of some days.
We have ZLC (zone leader coordination) on the 6th of Nov and we will head
in to Cebu to the mission home for that. The Zone is an interesting group of
missionaries. We actually went on splits Monday and yesterday with the Bindoy
elders. I was with Elder Veloria in Bindoy and had a great experience. The work
is going well in Amlan. We met a family this week that has a very difficult
situation. They are 9 in their family and all members but they are
living in an old baptist church that is no longer used for services.
They are severely persecuted by the owner of the house and have
stopped coming to church because of it. Not only that but there are
other members who are also persecuting the family saying they have
apostatized and all sorts of things which both Elder Manansala and I
feel are not true, especially after visiting with them and feeling
their testimonies about the church. They are one of our focuses this
week and we will try and get the members to look out for another place
for them to live, as Sister M, the mother of the family, expressed her desire
to get away from the house so they can start coming back to church.
We also visited with this one member, Sister L, that is constantly
visited by the Jehovah's witnesses and heard her hilarious stories of
their visits with her. She said it started out with just the ordinary
members coming to visit, two sisters, that were sharing a message
about equality of women in the world and the church. They said
something like "In some churches women are seen as under the men..."
and so on, then Sister L, replied, "Oh is that how it is in your
sect, because in our church we are equals!" I laughed so hard... then
in ended up that the members stopped coming to visit and this one man
started to visit, who had a lot more knowledge than the others. She
suspects he is the pastor. And then she continues to outsmart this
pastor in every visit they have. The other incident that is my
favorite is when they were talking about some doctrine that was
different and the pastor says "oh, so that's how it is in your
church?" and Sister replied "No, that's how it is for all of us, it
says so right here in the Bible..." Oh, how I laughed. This Sister is
a great example of how to share the gospel without being offensive but
being upfront about her beliefs.
Things have been doing well with Elder Manansala, and we are getting
along really well. We have quite a bit in common with one another and
we are having fun getting lost in the work. We were so thankful to
Heavenly Father that we achieved the standards for the lessons this
past week and are excited for what we can achieve this transfer.
We gave a blessing of comfort and counsel to a very distraught Sister, and
as I acted voice for the blessing, I was overwhelmed... I cannot fully
explain what I was feeling but I think it touched the realms of the
love Heavenly Father has for this Sister, his concern and fatherly
care. I was choked up and brought to tears myself and amazed at the
things I was saying. The priesthood is a very sacred power.
Just yesterday I had another experience in giving a blessing to this
one girl that had a fever and she was crying because of the pain she
was in. The moment I spoke the words "We bless you with a peace for
your body from the illness..." She fell asleep. We we had finished
giving the blessing she was peacefully resting, fast asleep. There is
no doubt in my mind right now about the power in the priesthood. We
have given so many blessings these past weeks and the feelings I have
as we do so are amazing. Sometimes I feel like we are about to burst
through the veil as we give the blessing, it is just exhilarating.
I just love the work we have experienced here in Amlan, and I have
felt an amazing burst of spirituality in my teaching and study and
just everything this last week. It was like I burst through some glass
barrier of spiritual level.
I love it here in Amlan and as a zone leader. Its so much fun!
Miss you all,
and love you all tons!
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
Letter #63 (17th Oct, 2012)
Hey all,
Amlan is great... imagine Finley (Terri here:Finley is a place where friends of ours live, that we visit each Easter, Actually my friend and I were mission companions over 20 years ago!!)... make it 3 or 4 times smaller and a tropical paradise... and that's Amlan! My companion is sooo buotan and
the Croppers live just down the road from us and they have a washing machine!!! (We are using it right now... hehehe) The apartment is a resort house similar to Zambo, nice and clean and beautiful... the only problem is the mosquitoes but i found the permetherin.
Conference was great and there was one thing that President Thomas S. Monsen said in the priesthood session that was sort of suprising... he said "the harvest is over, the summer is past." I forgot what context he used it in so i am very excited for the ensign to see what he really meant by that phrase.
Wed we had an amazing FHE with the R Family and Brother was so amazed that we helped in everything to make it a success for his family. We helped to cook dinner and organize the FHE and so on. He was so touched that he spoke with his family about coming back to church. I very much hope he does. Thurs was all about packing and then teaching a few lessons in the afternoon before heading to Lilo-an ZL balay in the evening in preparation for Fri which was travel to Dumaguete by Ceres from Cebu South Terminal, but first we had to pick up Elder Galdonez at the temple complex. Travel satrted at 5am and finished at about 5pm that evening in Amlan. So on my first full day as ZL on Saturday... we gave blessings to sick members, attended conference and gave comfort and counsel to a greenie who wanted to go home with the help of Elder Cropper. We didnt get home until 10pm that night... oh the fun of being a ZL Sun we worked with a member who is preparing for the mission, and I met this member who was on the mission with Reggie. He was Elder Sulmalpong.
Mon we had the first district meeting of the transfer. The zone here is only one district as well, with 5 companionships in 4 areas. 4 companions of elders and 1 of sisters. Then we had the most amazing lesson that evening led by the spirit with a semi-broken family. The father is struggling to overcome addictions while trying to support his family through any work he can find, while the mother looks after kids and continually (forgot this word) badlong-s her husband for the things he does wrong without seeing the good he is trying to do and the changes he is now trying to make to correct his wrong actions in the past against her. Very complicated situation and everyone was crying and the Spirit was so strong and the kids were praying for their parents, especially their dad that he can change and receive the gospel in his life... it was amazing!
Then just yesterday we had a great day being kugihan and got 6 lessons and i met this one family that probably has lots money but they are so nice. The eldest daughter was converted in Australia while staying with her aunt in Darwin a while back now, and only just found out this past week that her mother is actually a member from a long time now and said she wants to come back to church this coming Sunday. The Spirit and the Lord work in very strange but amazing ways! So I am sure to have lots of weird and wonderful stories this transfer as we continue to teach the people here and work hard.
Miss you all,
Love you tons
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
Amlan is great... imagine Finley (Terri here:Finley is a place where friends of ours live, that we visit each Easter, Actually my friend and I were mission companions over 20 years ago!!)... make it 3 or 4 times smaller and a tropical paradise... and that's Amlan! My companion is sooo buotan and
the Croppers live just down the road from us and they have a washing machine!!! (We are using it right now... hehehe) The apartment is a resort house similar to Zambo, nice and clean and beautiful... the only problem is the mosquitoes but i found the permetherin.
Conference was great and there was one thing that President Thomas S. Monsen said in the priesthood session that was sort of suprising... he said "the harvest is over, the summer is past." I forgot what context he used it in so i am very excited for the ensign to see what he really meant by that phrase.
Wed we had an amazing FHE with the R Family and Brother was so amazed that we helped in everything to make it a success for his family. We helped to cook dinner and organize the FHE and so on. He was so touched that he spoke with his family about coming back to church. I very much hope he does. Thurs was all about packing and then teaching a few lessons in the afternoon before heading to Lilo-an ZL balay in the evening in preparation for Fri which was travel to Dumaguete by Ceres from Cebu South Terminal, but first we had to pick up Elder Galdonez at the temple complex. Travel satrted at 5am and finished at about 5pm that evening in Amlan. So on my first full day as ZL on Saturday... we gave blessings to sick members, attended conference and gave comfort and counsel to a greenie who wanted to go home with the help of Elder Cropper. We didnt get home until 10pm that night... oh the fun of being a ZL Sun we worked with a member who is preparing for the mission, and I met this member who was on the mission with Reggie. He was Elder Sulmalpong.
Mon we had the first district meeting of the transfer. The zone here is only one district as well, with 5 companionships in 4 areas. 4 companions of elders and 1 of sisters. Then we had the most amazing lesson that evening led by the spirit with a semi-broken family. The father is struggling to overcome addictions while trying to support his family through any work he can find, while the mother looks after kids and continually (forgot this word) badlong-s her husband for the things he does wrong without seeing the good he is trying to do and the changes he is now trying to make to correct his wrong actions in the past against her. Very complicated situation and everyone was crying and the Spirit was so strong and the kids were praying for their parents, especially their dad that he can change and receive the gospel in his life... it was amazing!
Then just yesterday we had a great day being kugihan and got 6 lessons and i met this one family that probably has lots money but they are so nice. The eldest daughter was converted in Australia while staying with her aunt in Darwin a while back now, and only just found out this past week that her mother is actually a member from a long time now and said she wants to come back to church this coming Sunday. The Spirit and the Lord work in very strange but amazing ways! So I am sure to have lots of weird and wonderful stories this transfer as we continue to teach the people here and work hard.
Miss you all,
Love you tons
Elder Taylor Addison Cox
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)