Ha, you guys thought I forgot to write? I am still here, still breathing and serving. And it happens to be Tuesday once again so I'll write this late spam blast.
Chicken tender mercy of the week moment, every so often we exchange with other missionaries for the day. So on Saturday I swapped with my ZL, and went to work. Before this day, my comp and I have attempted to visit this inactive member for quite some time. We've been over a handful of times, but nobody answered. But the day that I'm exchanged with my ZL, she answers the door and it turns out she speaks no English.
This was super cool because she was trying to get to church but had no contact the Spanish ward here. I sat there and watched as Elder O taught her some lesson, and then referred her to the Spanish missionaries to get back to church. If my comp and I had pulled up, we probably would never had known it was the person we were looking for or that she needed to get to the Spanish ward. Super cool stuff.
President Oaks gave a devotional to all the young adults on Sunday, and he was literally spitting bars. If you are young and an adult, go and watch it. It's on the church website. It's definitely got my gears turning a bit on how to handle common situations down here among the people we teach.
On Monday, we went over to the Muirlands because we were ready to get hurt again, but it didn't happen. We went looking for members of the ward who have disappeared off the face of the planet. We knocked on their door, but no answer. We head over to the neighbor's mansion to see if they know the brother, expecting to get marched off their property at phone point (aka they gonna call the cops). But no! The lady who answered was super friendly! She didn't know him, so we went across the street to the next mansion, and they were friendly too! My opinion of Muirlands is changing, from my very statistically significant test yesterday. Looks like I need more faith and hope.
I spent this morning in the temple, which is why this letter is hitting y'all late. Absolutely amazing experience like always, I cannot stress how true the church is. Endowment sessions just hit different. Rest in peace San Diego temple, closing in 2 months.
Lots of the people we talk to don't really have a belief in God. It's very different from Lakeside where the people were God-fearing, it's interesting. But one thing that's been important to hammer down is that faith in God stems from a hope. Just in case any of y'all were unaware, you're gonna die at some point in the future. Sorry to burst your bubble, but because of the Fall of Adam and Eve, we're kinda stuck with it.
So we ask people, do you even hope that there's something after this life? Every single person will say yes, because we're immortal beings in a mortal shell. And that's what can lead us to faith. Just like Alma taught to the Zoramites, have hope. Have hope that everything will work out, have hope that there's a God who knows you better than you do. After you accomplish that, everything just falls into place.
Once you start growing that tree of faith, I can promise you that the attacks of Satan will mean less and less until his pathetic power has no hold over you. It may not happen in this life, but we're all working towards that. Keep going, you're doing better than you think you are. Your tree is stronger than Satan will have to believe. What a loser, trying to make you think that the end zone is 50 yards father than it is.
Have an amazing week! Get curb-stomped, devil!
-- Elder Coxson
P.S. I did not proof-read this email at all. Too busy writing code for the new mission server lol.
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