Bring it on Blackout year. 1/8/2018

Hola familia y amigos!

To explain the subject, the year on your mission where you are serving from Jan 1 to Dec 31 is your Blackout year, and 2018 is mine! So many good stories have happened since my last email, and sorry for not emailing the last two weeks, both have been holidays and I was super busy/distracted. It's been super awesome though! I hope you have all had an awesome start to your year and your Christmas was amazing! Don't want to make this email too much of a novel, so I'm going to start talking bout things now.

New friends! We met a good amount of cool new people these last two weeks. I'll just mention a few. One is Angel, he is from Puerto Rico and is a super smart dude. He has read like dozens or religious books, so was really excited to read another one.  He has been reading a good amount and it's been awesome to see how blessed he has been for it! Met a guy named Daniel he was forced into Catholicism as a kid, so is resistant to organized religion. He has a few young kids though, and really wants them to know God, so he has been excited to learn about what we think about fanales and stuff. One night, a bunch of wierd things happened, so we ended up on a random street at like 9:00 heading home. A guy came out and asked for money to take a cab home. We talked to him and found out he has been going through a ton. We talked and prayed, then asked for his address to come visit him. We showed up a few days laterand met his mom, Fran,  and he was accused of something and is now in holding for court. We were able to be there to talk to Fran and help comfort her and talk to him and stuff, it's been really cool.

Progressing friends! We have been meeting with Lisa for a while now, and she is almost ready to be baptized! She has gone through a ton since we have met her, but we have been happy to help her through it all. She has made leaps and bounds in progress spiritually, and if all goes well, she should be baptized next Saturday! We also have been teaching Becky for a while, she is super sweet. She has stage 4 cancer and a few other issues, so is dealing with a ton, and doesn't have a lot of time left. She has quickly made immense progress too!

Something I wanna mention is that, as I'm sure yall are aware, our beloved President Thomas S. Monson has passed. He was an incredible man with a constant focus on optimism and service. He was truly a man called of God, and I am so glad that I will get to meet him again someday. I want to stress something about him though, and that was his final message to the world: The Power of The Book of Mormon (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/the-power-of-the-book-of-mormon?lang=en). In a very quick, simple, strong, and heartfelt address he explained just how much strength we can receive through that little readable miracle. I could not explain in words him much I know this is true. The strength, love, peace, and joy I constantly receive from that book is unfathomable, and I know anyone who had read it with faith will say the same. If any of you ever need to feel Christ's love, just open the book and read a bit, I promise, and a Prophet of God promises that you will feel it!

I love yall! Thanks for all of the letters, prayers, and love you send, it really makes a huge difference! I love you all so much more than you know! I hope you have another incredible week!

<3 Elder Fox

Spanish Practice

En nuestra misión, hay un reto a comer 60 nuggets de pollo de BK en menos de 30 minutos y luego no vomitar durante 30 minutos. Suena mucho más fácil de lo que es, jaja. Y estoy muy orgulloso a decir que soy un miembro del "NUG CLUB"! Y soy en el alto de la lista con un tiempo de 13:10!!!