Spanish food is the BEST (except you Mom) 2/26/2018

Hola a todos otra vez!

Hope everyone had a smashing week, I know I did, didn't even have to go to 50 meetings :D. I heard that it finally decided to be winter back home, so I'm super jealous because Florida has decided that not only is winter over, but Spring is lame, so it's just gonna skip it. So I'm a fan. This week has been really awesome with people though! We met some really awesome people, and the ones we knew have been doing well too!

We met a family from Venezuela, and they are AWESOME! The father recently broke his leg bowling (he explained in super fast Spanish entertained with intense laughter, so sadly I am unsure as to what exactly happened), but he is 100% sure it happened so that he could meet us! We gave him a priesthood blessing in our first lesson, and he had us back the next day to teach him all about the Book of Mormon and the Church. He has loved every bit of it, and his wife is awesome too! She also cooks really good Venezuelan food, so that is a solid plus. Last time we were over, he also explained to us that we are not allowed to lose contact with him when we go home, because (in his own words), when he becomes someone's friends, he will never leave them. "you can't get rid of me, I'm a friend for life!" So he isy friend forever and always, which is dope. He also has an adorable and really freaking funny 2 year old (that speaks better Spanish then me) that is our friend as well. We also got to meet Zulmy's husband this week, and he is super cool and reallyikes our message too!

Zulmy's had been doing really well, she really likes to have us over and read the Book of Mormon, and she LOVES our beliefs. Especially the knowledge that families can be together forever! Then we have Stephanie, and she is still as crazy and awesome as ever! We got two surprising texts from her this week. First, she had a friend that was having a tough time, she suggested she start going back to church, the friend said she would if Stephanie would come with, Stephanie agreed and lo and behold, he friend is Mormon! So she is going to church with her next Sunday! The second was that she found a book by a person who isn't a member of the Church, so we got worried that it was going to have a bunch of the usual lies and scare tactics, but it turns out it is just facts about the Church, so she has learned a lot and loves it!

It's been a solid week, and I have had the chance to eat TONS of different Spanish foods, and my love for it has only grown! So many awesome food and so many awesome countries like: Papusas and Quesadillas (extremely different from Mexican quesadillas) of El Salvador, Arepas of Venezuela, Mole (pronounced molay) and Pastel Azteca of Mexico, Tamales (again, very different from the usual version) of Guatemala, and true Cuban Carne Asada. It's been amazing experiencing so many different cultures through the food. I've also been able to learn of so many people talk about their home countries (and sometimes make fun of others, haha), and in all honesty, it's made me appreciate this country so much more. While so many horrible things do happen, I have really come to know just how good actually do have it. The Book of Mormon has never been wrong before, and when it calls this land and country a Promised one of Freedom, its streak continues! I thank my Heavenly Father for this country, and the chance I had to grow up it! AMERICA!!! I still really, really love Spanish food though. Sorry for the patriotic rant, just think it's interesting how much I have taken it for granted, learning to appreciate everything He has given us is such a happier way to go through this journey! I especially thank Him for all of you! You all mean the world to me, and I hope you all have an incredible week. Stay safe! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! 

<3 Elder Fox

2/12/2018 Got back to the apartment and the wifi was down. Last weeks email

Hola todos!

Another week come and gone in a blink of an eye. This week was kinda wierd, just felt like nothing happened, we did have one amazing find, and made incredible progress with an investigator.

We met a lady named Stephanie while riding our bikes. Elder Jones decided to turn back on a road to go see if someone we knew was home, as we passed by a house the person got home. I said hi and we started to talk about God (surprise surprise). At some point she was talking about all of these struggles and trials she has been going through, so I felt impressed to share 2 Nephi 2:2. She said that she loved it and she felt the spirit really strong, then asked where it was from in the Bible. I explained that it was from the Book of Mormon, and then shared a bit about the Book of Mormon. She then said, "I don't know why I haven't heard of this Book before, but I feel really strongly that Jesus wants me to read it." So that was amazing!

Then Lisa. I met Lisa on my third week out here and have been teaching her since then. She is amazing and has gone through sooooooo many trials and problems over this last little while, but she has finally changed her life around drastically and is ready to be baptized this Saturday! She is an absolutely amazing person that has an honestly inspiring testimony. I've grown to love her tons, and I am so stoked for her for this weekend!!!

Other than those two, it has been a pretty mellow week, just not a ton happened. It has been amazing though! I have loved every second of my mission. Even though there are definitely times where I feel like I just want to lay down and cry, haha. There are definitely hard days, and some feel unbearable, but it is so worth it. Lisa has really reaffirmed for me that I am out here for a reason, and she has a life and an eternity of joy, peace, and love ahead of her, and I got to be a part of it! I love my mission, I love the gospel, I love Christ, I love my Heavenly Father, and I love all of yall! Thanks for another week of prayers and love! Talk to yall next week!

<3 Elder Fox

2/19/2018 I helped make an Apostle cry

Hola todos!

*Warning*

*Novel Incoming*

Soooo many things this week. I am going to try my best to keep it shortish, but it's just been a crazy week. It's wierd, we started this week thinking it was just going to be a little lackluster,  because we had a meeting every single day, and had to do a lot of other things, so we never really had any time to like do missionary work, but it ended up being amazing! I'm just gonna get into some stuff, so I don't rant too much.

First off, we didn't really find anyone (the whole no time for real missionary work thing), but we made some really cool progress with a bunch of Investigators we are currently teaching! Fist off, pretty big one: Lisa got baptized!!! It's been one wild ride, she has been through so much crap. From her husband dying to her kids taking her house to depression and addictions and so many other things, but she has risk above it all! She has one of the strongest testimonies of the Lord I have ever known. She is also super kind and loving and honestly I want to cry knowing I will be leaving her, she is not good with emails, so looks like I'm gonna get used to snail mail again! Next, we've got Stephanie, she is really really awesome, and loves our message and the Book of Mormon, we brought a member that has the almost exact same crazy back story that she has, so she has been amazing. We then got a message from her saying that she was talking with a friend going through some stuff, who explained that she had not been to church in a few years, and she told the friend that she would go to church with her to help her out, and she's a Mormon! It was really awesome to hear, so she will be going to church with her, which is awesome! Next we've got Zulmy, we brought a member to her house for our last lesson, and she got along really well, we had to leave before she was ready to go too, haha. We got a text later that day saying that Zulmy is coming over to eat dinner tonight and we should come XD so that's awesome! She also told us that she loves when we come over and pray for her, she says it has helped a ton in her life!

Next, can't remember if I explained this last time, but I am a "technology specialist" so I had to go to two big meetings and explain to all of the missionaries how to use smartphones, so that was entertaining. I was quite surprised to realize how many millennials don't know how to put a battery into a phone the right way. Other than that, the meetings were pretty nice, had a good time.

Now to explain the subject. So, Elder Stevenson visited our mission, along with the Presiding Bishop (Bishop Caussé) and two members of the 70 (elder Klebengot and elder Carter). They all gave amazing trainings and I learned a TON! I have never met an apostle face to face, so it was amazing to see him, talk with him, shake his hand, and feel the power of God just glowing from him. It was absolutely amazing. To explain the subject though, for whatever reason, during the final hymn, all of the missionaries sang like we were in a profesional choir and it sounded absolutely AMAZING, the spirit hit us all like a truck, and Elder Stevenson started to cry, followed by Elder Carter, our mission president, and his wife, it was crazy. Really, really good day!

I will cut it off here, it was an amazing week, between the apostle and Lisa's Baptism! I can't believe how strongly I've felt the spirit this week. It's been amazing! I wish I had some specific words of advice I could leave you with, but there was just so many things. If I had to choose, something I loved was: Heavenly Father will never do for you what you can do for yourself, but then he will do everything that you need him to, after you have done what you can! It's just a simple awesome principle that I love! Thank you all again for everything yall do for me! I love you, and I love Heavenly Father! It's been such an amazing spiritual week, and hope you all can have an amazing week this time around! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

<3 Elder Fox

The mission President thinks Im smart....Ive fooled him 2/5/2018

Hola todos!

Hope you have all been doing well! I just learned that the super bowl happened, not sure who won. but congrats to the family members who like that team. It's been a pretty strange week out in the sunshine state. Everything from HUGE  technology upgrades to miraculous findings. I don't have much else things to say to try and appear comedic, so onward.

This week, for some reason, the mission president thought that I was capable of using advanced technology like smart phones, so I got to participate in a conference call with a guy from Salt Lake and am now the "technology leader" in this mission and am in charge of helping teach all of the 18-25 year Olds how to use smartphones... It's really tough. It is super nice to have them though, they are still all locked up with the safety software. So no Google, and only church approved apps, but the speakers and texting are sooooooooo much nicer. So yeah, good times, we are living in the future now.

Lisa has been doing well, she is getting super close to her baptism, and is so stoked for it! We have a member talking with her and helping her with a lot of stuff. Her name is Victoria, she is the shortest, happiest, most spiritual woman I could imagine. Quan and Stephanie are doing well, they have been reading the Book of Mormon, so that's awesome. They all got pretty sick this week though, so we weren't able to stop by.

We had to go to a ton of meetings this week because of my new calling, so we didn't really get to find people, but the one we did is miraculous to say the least. We biked about an hour out to a person someone asked us to meet, she said she wasn't interested, I wanted to not waste the bike ride, so we tried going to visit a former investigator, but we couldn't cross the road due to a ton of random traffic, so we biked up to the stop light a while up the road, and I noticed we were by another former. We went to the apartment complex, and I read the apartment as 202 instead of 203 for some reason, so we went to that door, and it was open with a young latino lady sitting and talking on her phone. We asked if Rafael lived there, she said no, so we checked again, and noticed I read it wrong. So we went to 203, knocked, no answer. Suddenly, I felt strongly we needed to go back, so I told elder Jones my plan. We went back, and I asked her if she could help us settle a bet, she looked puzzled, but said yes. I asked where she was from, she said Venezuela, and I cheered and elder Jones acted defeated. She laughed, we talked a bunch more, and she is one of, if not the most ready person for the gospel. Her family just moved here, and is going through a ton, she asked a ton of questions, and loved our answers. She was super excited to get the Book of Mormon, and has been reading it a ton. SO AWESOME!

This week was up there with the strangest week, but it was still amazing! I hope you all have had an amazing week as well. I procrastinated writing, so I have to send this pretty soon. Thank you all for everything you do! I was really reminded this week to always listen to the first prompting. When you feel like doing something, and it's good, just do it, don't ponder it. I promise it'll always go well! This gospel is such an awesome blessing, I'm so greatful for it, for what it's done for me, for my family, and for everyone I've gotten to share it with! I LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING! HAVE AN AWESOME WEEK! 

Love, 

Elder Fox

Wedding of a recent convert who got married

New Companion 

Elder Jones from Elko Nevada