4/15/09 Letter

"Wow 17 months I didn't know I could have made it this far. I can't believe Jarrod Walters is going home next week. Time is a very funny thing. It never wants to stop, I think it just likes to speed up, and never slow down. I didn't even know I was out 17 months until Elder Nielsen called me last night and told me."

"This week has just been amazing! Friday we had President's Interviews, and we had to give a training to all the missionaries as well. It was really good. It focused on planning and not wasting time. So we looked at their planners and suggested some ideas on how they can improve. We then did a little activity. We had flashlights and we put 5 pieces of paper over it so it would block the light. We had a lot of Candy so we would hide candy everywhere. They represented investigators. The room we were in was completely dark. The 5 pieces of paper represented 5 aspects of missionary work. Obedience, Love, Opening our mouths, Attitude, and Study. If they followed everything right then they would take off one piece of paper at a time and the brighter and brighter it would get and the more easier it would be to find the investigators. Then after that we went back into the training. We read a talk by Elder Bednar when he was the President of Ricks College. It is called "Arise and Shine Forth" so we read the talk and tied it into not wasting time. It was really good and we felt the spirit very strongly with some of the missionaries. We did it 12 times, so my brain was fried when we got all done. We then went and saw the Downey family. They are a part member family who come to church every week. They know they will be baptized and now its just a matter of time."

"Saturday was our miracle day. We taught lesson after lesson. It was wonderful. The Hindu family that we found last week is amazing. Her name is Hedal. We went over and continued to talk about Jesus Christ and God. In the Hindu religion they have over 1,000 Gods they worship and they believe in Reincarnation. We talked about the Resurrection and how Christ was the one who broke the bands of death. It was very powerful and she told us she believed in what we said. She then prayed for the first time in her life. She followed the outline we gave to her."

The Great Hindu Trinity

"We found 3 new investigators that day and gave 2 blessings. We got a call from one of the sister missionaries who gave us a referral. It was someone she worked with who they lost contact with. The lady actually contacted Sister Snell and told her she still wanted to be baptized and told her that she had moved. Well it just so happens that she moved right here in Hackettstown. Amazing how the Lord works. I also found out that Christian the one who we set for baptism when I was in Passaic is getting baptized this Sunday! So many wonderful things that I'm grateful for. Later that night we had dinner with some recent converts Mark and Lisa. Elder Salgado was there, but he is not an Elder anymore. He went home in Nov. and came back to visit. So it was nice to see him again as well."

Christian and Elder Brox

"We had an amazing Sunday. It was very windy. We had lunch with our Ward mission leader and dinner with the Linville's who used to feed us all the time when I was on the other side of this area with Elder Roberts."

"Monday we met with the sister's referral. Her name is Christine and we set her with a date to be baptized on the 26th of April. I was on exchange with Elder Stettler my old companion who would annoy me a lot. He is a very good missionary and works very hard. We ran into someone who used to feed missionaries all the time, and invited us back for dinner in a few weeks."

"Tuesday we went tracting in the rain for 3 hours. We had a lot of fun. We got about 5 potentials who were good and solid people. We had dinner that night with our Ward Mission leader, Bro. Conner. His family is just amazing. They love the missionaries and take good care of us."

"I'm so happy to be out here and to serve the Lord, it truly has changed my life. I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for being able to perform the Atonement and Resurrection, so that we can live together forever as family and friends. I love you all I pray for everyone of you. Thank you for being such great examples in my life. Something very important I have learned out here is when we expect miracles to happen, then we will receive miracles everyday. But if we wait and sit back for miracles to happen chances are we will receive little or none at all. So ask for opportunities and the Lord will hear and answer your prayers. I Love you guys."

-Elder Tyler Brox