Week 60

Hi Everyone

I'm sick too, vomiting last night. still feel like rubbish but there's not much I can do apart from just wait it out. (Some of us have been sick with fluey things this past week.)

Well it wasn't enough for me to play for 1 sacrament metting this sunday, I played for 2, Fairy Springs and Tarawera ward. hahahaha 

I had an exchange with Elder Tibbits on Tuesday and with Elder Nikau on Saturday. Tuesday was pretty cool we met D who was pretty interested and so we were teaching lesson 1 when her aunty came and said I'm the one you should be talking to - she was an ex mormon and guess what her last name is Cox and then would you believe it, we went to see Elder Tibbits RC the Cox family HAHAHAHA that was so weird saying the prayer there "please bless the Cox family..." 

Elder Nikau was sick on our trade off, but we worked for part of the day and found 2 people who were interested in us coming back A and N (different places) 

Service with bro C on Friday helping them clean up their yard tree branches and the lawn, and then we helped D and N to do some gardening, plant some trees that they just got, 

and last night I went to bishop's house for dinner, he stays out on a farm, so dinner was a nice steak hahaha 

Sister D is going to Auckland this week. The hardest thing for her to quit smoking is she rolls herself so whenever she feels like a smoke she just makes one. We're trying to get her to cut it back. 

H, T and S weren't home we just missed them apparently, the neighbour said so when we knocked on their door.

@ DAD

yes I remember Dion. Tell him I'm doing good, what's he up to now? Still at school how long till he's finished? Soon? 

photos

Elder Tibbits fishing

quotes

"Don't do what is easy, do what is right"

"the best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. the second best time is now"

Love you all

Elder Cox

(Obviously was still sick, he didn't write much and only sent 1 photo this week)

Elder Tibbits fishing.

Week 59

Hey Everyone :D

You'd never guess who showed up!!! oh of course you would HAHAHA They have a habit of trying to surprise me FHE before I left, being "investigators" at Pres B so yes, my "investigator" came to Pres B's (he's a sneaky fella haha) I pretty much told them to hurry up and get on their missions. I even showed them the white handbook where it talks about visits from family + friends. 

H doesn't live there.... Sis D wasn't prepared to go cold turkey (which is part of the thing we go to teach) but she's still reading the Book of Mormon. Her son stays in Perth. Sis D told me about the snow back home she said she saw it on the news hahaha 

Some new investigators one of them is D's niece so there's some fellowship right there, and the three we met on monday.

The AP's exchange was good on monday night. I went with Elder Romney (him and E. Christy are the travelling APs) He said Pres pretty much told them you have air matresses, unlimited kms and some money on your cards; go do what you feel will help the other missionaries... so I was with Elder Romney for the night; we saw some LA the husband is sick, we spoke to him about the atonement. he has heaps of questions, mainly questions which there aren't answers to and he doesn't like the idea of just having faith. 

And we met some really nice people H, S and T. They let us in, we shared about the restoration. Turned out that S has friends from Utah who gave her a BoM ages ago. and they even fed us some dinner hahaha but we haven't caught them again, hopefully this week, they're pretty busy people they just got back before we knocked on their door at about 8.20 and they left just after us at about 9. 

We did service for the N's on tuesday; just yard work (with the APs too) and then the B's, cutting tree branches off and mowing the lawn. 

Dentist on Wednesday for Elder Vaili they thought they were going to do a root canal but they tried something else and said to see if that worked bc it would be less invasive idk not my mouth. We have to go back this wednesday for something else 

Last night we went to Sis A (the Filo) and she had some pigs blood and intestines; tastes good so when I get home can Taylor make that for me hahaha. She had some other Filo friends over, they were really shocked that I tried it, more so that I liked it haha.

The Heattech are nice they're pretty tight tho... (It's either all that work in the gym, or he's put on more weight then he thought!!)

Photos:

in the library on the back wall

a car crash where E. Vaili pretended to be an officer

Love you all!!!

Elder Cox

The back wall of the local library.

Elder Vaili pretending to be 

an officer at an accident.

Week 58

Hello Everyone :D

Yes I told you you had nothing to complain about with your cold! bc guess what!!!! it SNOWED!!!!!! just a little and then it hailed but IT SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!

and we had a power out on Wednesday night so no heaters THAT WAS COLD we could see our fog breath inside like it was outside....

Last Monday we went to Waiotapu I think you saw L's photos. but I'll send you some more. 

I text J to go see him tonight but no reply yet. we'll see. we're going on exchange with the APs tonight so hopefully he's there haha. N is really keen on doing Family History so her and her husband will probably do that sometime this week. We found a new investigator last night on the street H, he said to come over. We had dinner at the B's last night and Opa (grandad) asked if I was a missionary and I said yes he said "I didn't think you were an Elder. Where was your companion when you slept here??" that's when it clicked that he thought I was someone else who stays with them hahaha. Sis B asked if you were the bishop Dad, someone from Aus had been visiting. 

We had an amazing lesson with Sis D, she said she didn't understand the atonement so we read Alma7:11-13 Here. but sister D usually keeps reading so she finished the chapter with us. but anyway she got to v14-15 (14 Now I say unto you that ye must ^arepent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

 15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth ^abeset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.) and she said (I think it was to herself but I heard) "I wouldn't mind being baptised" so we continued reading and after we had finished reading and explained everything I brought it up, and she said that she had been thinking about it but she had some things she wanted to sort out (smoking) so we said we would help her quit and set her for baptism on the 15 of August. so Wed hopefully Elder Tibbits (ZL) and I  will be doing the stop smoking thing with her (bc he knows it quite well). And Bro B said he would pop by in the week and see how she was doing.

I went on an exchange with Elder Tibbits on Sat morning that was good we had an awesome studies. I noticed something in Ether when the Lord spoke to the brother of Jared "Go to work" (Eth 2:16).Here. We found them 3 new investigators. One asked "so what's the Book of Mormon" and we thought they were going to pull a 'don't add' but they said (it was a couple) yeah the Bible doesn't have everything, we'd love to read it. and what made it even more of a miracle it was some guy we stopped on the street to talk to who said 'I'm busy' we asked if he knew anyone who would be interested in hearing a message and he said "go see my sister she lives there." that never happens hahaha

It's Elder Tuiaki. no stitches just butterfly tape. (I spelt it wrong!)

@ TAYLOR By blue writing do you mean hyperlinks or what? complete, does that mean more details??? oh btw ~~HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR SATURDAY! :D ~~ 

Scriptures:

Isaiah 61:1 Here.

Jacob 1:8 Here.

Love you

Elder Cox

From P-day activity last week.

Elder Glass, Elder Gilmour, and Elder Cox. (Reilly)

Reilly, Elder Nikau, and Elder Glass.

A member's adorable little boy, 

who fell asleep during FHE.

It SNOWED, then hailed!!!

(This looks like the hail.)

Leaving messages!

More messages.

And even more messages!

Week 57

Hi Everyone :D

It was sad to hear about President Packer on Saturday. N said that the same thing happened on his mission A few of the apostles all passed away in a short amount of time. that means there will be 2 new apostles at next conference (I assume they'd be called by then)

Elder Vaili is 20, so still no comp younger than me hahaha. We've been trying to find a dentist to do his root canal. earliest we got was 15 July so next week by the looks.

J's kids have been sick so he said it was best we didn't go over, but I've been working out with him and his brother at the gym in the morning and he said today he wants to get a time for us to come over. He was at church on Sunday too! 

Well we saw Sis D again and she wants to quit smoking so we're going to try help her with that, Bro B (HP group leader) knows her form when her son was on a mission and so her household had Home teachers because J (her son) is a member. anyway he went and talked with her too and bc it's school holidays now and Bro B is a teacher we're hoping to set something up. 

I went on Exchange with Elder Gilmore this week, that was pretty fun haha We had a mean lesson with their investigator; a member's friend who had some questions about what happens after we die so Plan of Salvation was the perfect lesson and they were keen on learning more!

We saw S and A this week, they invited us to have dinner with them on Wednesday we haven't caught them in a long time so it's good that they're back on the radar. 

We had a heap of referrals this week to contact but none of them were interested.... but at least we got some referrals, that was nice to have.

 N got confirmed by D (her husband) on sunday :) yay!!!!  

@DAD yes, lesson learnt i'm not lending my bike out anymore....

Photo:

This is what happens when you play touch inside the hall and you run across the concertina doors with your head. ouch.....

Love you all,

Elder Cox.

Elder Toanki after playing touch in the hall

and colliding with a concertina door.

And a close up!

A family that feed the missionaries a lot.

The stone they broke while chopping wood.

His words...."Must be all that going to the gym!"

Week 56

Hi Everyone :D

No I didn't freeze much last week.

N's baptism was good, I played the piano, and talked. No her confirmation is this sunday, it was stake conference yesterday. Sis D is finally enjoying the book of mormon after we convinced her to read the intro so she could understand more about it. We haven't seen J, we want to see him tonight. We got some referrals this week from the LA so I guess they're the ones to go to. We helped that lady's nephew? I think (that stopped us) hook up a horse cart he lives down the st a little. Elder Vaili's from Savaii.

Stake conference was good, Elder Nielsen spoke. we sung hymn#98 at the adult session and he said "they're dual purpose missionaries! they can teach and they can sing!" (I played 2 verses and 2 were acopella) and all the members from fairy springs ward "you can play Elder Cox?!?" Elder Nielsen is very good and explaining the scriptures and making them come alive. he was speaking about Mark 4 and how the Saviour had been teaching all day and he finally found a pillow (he made that quite humorous)  to sleep and the storm and the disciples came and woke him up "What would you or I have done if someone had woke us up?" and he continued sharing his message about the story but I'm not going to write it all bc that will take too long.

@ DAD Yes some youths we were talking with rode our bikes. (He needed to get his wheel re-aligned, and his Dad asked "Why?")

Scripture

Romans 12:2, 21 Here.

Love you all

Elder Cox

District Activity.

Writing in the sand.