Sick companion and burning stoves 5/28/2019

Hola everyone!

Hope you have all had an awesome week. Oh! yeah, and Happy Memorial Day! This week has been really mellow, we had some really cool stuff happen, but not too much in general. We had a lot of meetings and far away medical appointments (my companion was sick) so we did not have ample time to do a ton, but it was a good week nonetheless! We saw some really cool miracles!

We met a really awesome lady named Jicauri (shee-ca-ow-ree), it was a really cool expierience. It had been a very poor day: really hot and humid, riding bikes all around, and not being able to meet anyone that was willing to talk to us. We prayed right after dinner, and asked to know where to go again, and I remembered an apartmant building in a complex that we tried by two weeks ago. We never went back, because their were a ton of english speakers, but this one specific building came to mind right after the prayer. And you don't ignore stuff like that. So we went, and after knocking on almost every door, and getting nothing but english or rude people, we were getting pretty discouraged, then the second to last door, we meet Jicauri. She was super nice and has an adorable 8-year-old daughter, and was happy to have us back!

We saw some awesome progress with a few of the people we are teaching too! We had an awesome lesson with the kids in the Castillo Bernard family (Angelina and Antony). We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and for the first time Antony started to interact with us a lot, asking questions and stuff. Then, at the end, we finally felt prompted to invite them to be baptized, and they said yes!!! It was awesome, but the the bad news... They told us they were going to Georgia tomorrow...until July 2nd... We were pretty bummed, but we have a lot of faith they will be good to go by the time they get back.  And then, the older couple we are teaching (Rosa and Adrian) are doing amazing! They were even able to make it out to church yesterday! And they really enjoyed it.

Last night we had a fun thing happen, and I realized how well it explained our companionship. We had some wierd powdered potato soup mix from another missionary, and decided to try and make it. We had to boil some water then put it in as we mixed. Elder Jensen began mixing and pouring, but we realized that all the starch kept making a ton of bubbles, so it was a super slow process. So I grabbed a plate and started blowing from the top to keep the bubble down as he goes. We feel like complete professionals at this point, until I accidentely bump him a bit, causing a bunch of the mix to fall in, and a bit to fall to the side of the pot. This caused a ton of bubbles, so Elder Jensen had to mix super fast and I had to do my best leafblower impression, this caused the powder that missed the pot to blow under the burner...it did not last very long. Suddenly a flame spews out as the starch lights up like a firecracker, and elder Jensen realizes that if he stops stirring, the bubbles will spew over, and likely cause a much greater issue, I immediatley say, "Woah! Where's the camera?!" and run off, and right as I got back our trainee Elder Tolman (who we often affectionately refer to as our 'band-aid') sees the chaos and does his 'band-aid' thing and turns off the burner, causing the flames to stop pretty quickly...I'm surprised he still hasn't asked to leave us, haha. Elder Jensen has a bit of a burn on his arm now, I have some awesome pictures, and Elder Tolman has less faith in our ability to survive when we get home! And all of this happened in a matter of like 20 seconds by the way. But it was awesome, good memory.

I hope that story helps y'all remember that missionaries are nowhere close to perfect, haha, but hey, none of us are! Nor do we have to be! I feel like as a missionary I have learned that we all really need to learn to accept our mistakes, forget them, and move on a lot more often. Of course, we are not supposed to ignore unrepented sins, but once we have done what we need to do recieve forgiveness from the Lord, why should we keep holding on to it? We are all going to make mistakes, its just a fact, we are all going to hurt someone we care about at some point, we are all going to do something we regret, its just part of the experience. We should never let those mistakes fester and linger though. We need to ask for forgiveness, move on, and learn from the experience! It is one of the greatest gifts we have after all! Because of what Christ did for every one of us, "no failure ever need be final". We can all experience the joy of trying again! Keep going! Keep repenting! Keep learning! And Keep relying on the Savior! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!

<3 Elder Fox

5/21/2019 Ran out of time again......Spanish time is rubbing off on me.

Hola Todos!

How has everyone been? This week was crazy busy, and really successful, which is awesome! It has me more than a bit worried for what's going to go wrong in the future, but whatever! Ignorance is bliss...right? But actually, not too many funny or intense stories as far as life goes this week, but as for missionary things, this week was incredible, we saw a lot of awesome progress! And I am now really running low on time due to some stuff that just came up, so this is gonna be quick now, sorry...and sorry for those who are getting sick of me saying that...

We met a few cool people, but my time is super short, I'm just gonna go through some quick highlights. The shy family (Castillo Bernard) came to church and the kids really liked it! Which is a miracle in and of itself! They have been making awesome progress and the people in the ward have been incredible to them! Rosa and Adrian are making some amazing progress, and now understand what we are truly asking of them (which is usually only final understood by those who have a sincere desire to change!). And finally, William has really made some awesome steps forward in his faith and has set a goal for his baptism! He has set June 15th as his goal and I can not wait to see the Lord work His miracles to help him achieve it! Most others are doing pretty well! I've gotta get going though, so quick testimony!

I have seen the power of working together this week! I often feel as a missionary that I have been called to do what I have been called to do, and should be able to do it. I often feel like He has provided me with the tools I need to do whatever He has asked...but I often forget that He has given me all of the people around me as well! We are not meant to go through this life and our trials alone, He has blessed us with family, friends, and wards to help us accomplish all He knows we can! We were social beings before this life, we relied on Him and His love for everything, and we are going to have our families hereafter, so why would we think that we are supposed to do everything here alone? I know that we are placed in our specific situations and groups of friends to learn to rely on others, and to be someone others can rely on! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! HAVE AN AWESOME WEEK!!!

<3 Elder Fox

Wahoo 20! Party noises YEAH! 3/13/2019

Hola todos!

How was the week? How was y'alls Mother's Days?! Mine was super wierd, I am so used to being beyond stoked to talk to my family and don't get me wrong, I still was, but it was just like another normal day for the most part. No people running up all day in church with a massive grin asking "Aren't you so excited to call your family tonight?!?!?!?!". Talking to my family is never a bad time though, so it was still awesome. Any cool Mother's Day stories? Let me know please! I always love hearing from y'all! And I hope most of you are still tolerating my massive walls of text I send every...most...Mondays! Speaking of wall of text, let's get started!

We met a few cool people this week, but it was pretty busy with other things (which is usually how it works...). José is an awesome young guy from Puerto Rico with a few little kids. He is awesome and despite his difficult upbringing and tough circumstances, he holds those kids and his wife above all else! It is awesome to see how important they are to him, he is a super cool guy, and an awesome example. We met an older couple as well, Freddy and Dorri. They are super sweet and we're very excited to learn more about what we share. They had to leave their home country pretty quickly due to circumstances, and so they had to leave a lot of stuff back there, but they are super sweet and seem really good at not focusing on those material things.

The people who I've been teaching have made some awesome progress though! The older couple from Puerto Rico, Rosa and Adrián, have been lestening to the Book of Mormon and asking a ton of really awesome questions! Michael's family is finally reading and they are making some very great progress as well because of it! They still have to work on Sundays, but they are trying to fix that! Will is finally able to find a new job, so hopefully that all goes through so he can start coming to church and finally be baptized in a few weeks! We sent out a ton of Mother's day messages, and a lot of the people we are teaching really enjoyed them, so that was fun too, and one of our friends granddaughters had her first kid on Mother's Day!

Speaking of Mother's Day, my ward had their Mother's Day party on Friday, which just so happened to be my birthday as well! Finally no longer a teenager...whatever that means... The party was awesome though! It was a talent show thing, and I signed up to share my talent of cooking incredibly unhealthy desserts! That was super fun, I made my mother's (seemed like a good reason to make them) Apple Dumplings, and they were a hit! And then, a few days before, they talked about how they didn't have many people signed up to do things that take time, so me and my big mouth said I could try and sing a song...so that was a fun few days of stressful preperation, haha. It ended up going really well though (I think my mom has a video if you want it...), and after I sang the Ward Mission Leader got up and said it was my birthday, and they all sang to me and brought me a cake, and it was AMAZING!!! But even better, afterwards, a guy that played guitar and sang very authentic old Spanish music, asked to come up and play this birthday song for me, it was one of the greatest things I have ever heard!

I felt pretty bad about getting so much attention at a party for mothers, so I gave a big thanks afterwards and redirected it all back to motherhood and the divinity of that calling. I'm going to paste a thing from a talk by Elder Holland that I love (and y'all have probably all heard it, but I just feel like he expresses what I feel much better than I can, haha), I know for a fact that, "no love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child." I would like to join him in saying, "to all of our mothers everywhere, past, present, or future, Thank you. Thank you for giving birth, for shaping souls, for forming character, and for demonstrating the pure love of Christ. Thank you for your crucial role in fulfilling the purposes of eternity. To all mothers in every circumstance, including those who struggle—and all will—I say, Be peaceful. Believe in God and yourself. You are doing better than you think you are. In fact, you are saviors on Mount Zion, and like the Master you follow, your love ‘never faileth.’ I can pay no higher tribute to anyone." And I agree wholeheartedly with that last statement. Especially to my own mother! Thank you all so much for everything you do for your children and Heavenly Father's children that He has very appropriately entrusted you with! I love you all, mothers and others! Thank you for everything! Have an awesome week! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

<3 Elder Fox

(PS first photo is me and Pic of my dad at my age from my call home)

Dealing with the Real World! YEAH! (insert sarcasm) 3/6/2019

Hola Todos!

How have y'all been?! Sorry I missed last week, as told in the title, I had to deal with some Real World stuff (mostly school), which ended up taking almost my whole P-Day, then a friend asked us to come by at 5:00, so I lost the last little bit, but it was worth it, the lesson was awesome! In other news, I'm sticking around for another transfer here in this area. And because of my current situation (I'm in a trio companionship, one is going home at the end of this transfer, one is waiting for his visa to Ecuador, so will be leaving sometime in the transfer, and I leave next transfer) I will very likely end my mission here. Which I'm pretty happy about, because I love this ward! Other than that news though, it's been really slow this last little bit, so I'll just give some quick recaps.

We are still teaching the family from Columbia, and they have made some really good progress! They've been getting over their fears about a lot of stuff, which is awesome to see. Our friend Pomales (the blind man) is enjoying our visits, and is at a point where he will either make a lot of progress quickly, or none at all for a while...so pray for him if you could, thanks! The older couple from Puerto Rico is doing super well! We were walking in their area, and saw them trying to carry in groceries (they live on the second floor), so it was a super awesome chance to help them out with something, and they were really appreciative. Suni is doing well, she has been asking a ton of questions, which is awesome! We've met a few others, and they have all been really cool. One man named Edgar met a member of our ward, and asked if he could come along to church (recently moved from Venezuela). He is super nice, and really liked it, so we are super excited to teach him!

It has been super crazy reflecting on my mission these last few weeks. I know I still have plenty of time to do whatever I can, but it's wierd thinking how close the end is. I've still got a ton to look forward to: my birthday (May 10th), Mother's Day, Father's Day, Fourth of July, and...hmm...there was something else...oh yeah! PRESIDENT NELSON IS COMING TO ORLANDO FLORIDA!!! I am beyond stoked to go and hear the Prophet of God speak! I have read a lot of his talks recently, and have really come to know that he is a truly ordained representative of Christ! I have learned so much from him, and can not wait to hear him speak in front of my own eyes! I invite you all to really study his words, you will feel the spirit as you do! You will Recieve answers from God that you need! Promise! I am so grateful for all of you sticking around for as long as you have. You have all made my mission incredible, I hope you all have a beautiful week! and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL THE MOTHERS OUT THERE!!! ESPECIALLY MY FAVORITE ONE!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

- Elder Fox