She Has Arrived

her

18 September 2013

Parents of: Sister Cox 


        
       332 West 600 North
       Manti, UT 84642
       USA
        
       

This week Sister Anderson and I have had the thrill of welcoming your daughter to the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission. She has arrived safely and we have enjoyed becoming acquainted with her .

Yesterday, Sister Cox was assigned his first companion and trainer, Sister 
    
     
    
   Williams|Hall
    
     
    
   .  Below is their address; we invite you to please write or email  Sister Cox weekly with positive, uplifting information and experiences to encourage her in her missionary efforts.  Your expressions of love and interest in her will not only bless her life here in Philadelphia, but will cement relationships of trust forever.  As instructed by the leaders of the Church, we ask that you not telephone or visit Sister Cox during her mission unless I have been informed in advance.  She will have my permission to call on Mother's Day and Christmas.  You should feel free to contact Sister Anderson (new mission president's wife) at any time.  Email is my preference, but if the need is urgent call the Church operator in Salt Lake (801-240-1000) and they will know how to contact me.

 

We know the Lord will bless you as He does all who make the necessary sacrifices to allow their loved ones to serve in these great callings.  If we can ever be of any service or assistance to you or your daughter, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for the privilege of serving with Sister Cox.

Best personal regards,

T. Gary AndersonPresident, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission

Sister Jessica Cox

4405 Bristol Rd. #1BTrevose, PA 19053USA

Tomorrow is Monday, and then I'm off to Philly

Sept. 15, 2013 

Mom,

We are allowed to e-mail our parents today. They wanted us to let you know that we can call you while at the airport. I already told you that we report to the travel office at 2:30amand then it's going to take about an hour to get to the airport and possibly another hour to check luggage and go through security and everything. So be expecting a call at about 4:30 am. I can't wait to talk to you before I leave for Philly. It will be the last to talk to you until Christmas! Thanks for sending me that package with my retainer and patriarchal blessing in it. Oh and for all of the fun little gifts in it too! It made my day :) 

I am so excited to finally go to Philly, I am going to miss my district and zone and companion a lot! We have seriously gotten so close, but I guess that's what happens when you spend so much time with so many wonderful pictures. We got to go and walk around the temple today and our whole district color coordinated! It was fun! I wish I was at a computer that would allow me to load pictures to show you... but it was way fun!

I wish I had more time to e-mail you, but I will talk to you soon!!! 

Love,

Sister Cox <3

I LOVE YOU!

*Letter written at MTC on Sept. 11, 2013
Dear Family,
I LOVE YOU!  I think I already told you thanks for the package....but Thanks again!  You saved the day!  All of us sisters really have been enjoying it.  Thanks for the jacket!  I remember looking at that at Sam's!  haha!  Just as a little FYI if you want to send me another letter in the mail, I wouldn't send it after Friday.  But Dear elder should be fine through Sunday(maybe Monday morning).
   That is soo funny what happened to Grandpa!  Haha!  Tell him way to go for me!  I did write a letter to them, but I don't think grandma would like it if I told grandpa way to go in that letter.
   You will have to let me know when Dylan gets his call!  I'm excited to hear where he is going!
   So the exact info on my travel is:
Sept. 17, 2013
2:30 am:  Report to the MTC Travel Office
Calling time
6:00 am:  Fly out from SLC airport
9:38 am:  Arrive at Minneapolis, MN
More calling time?
10:45 am:  Fly out from Minneapolis, MN
2:18 pm:  Arrive at Philadelphia, PA
   I really hope you don't mind if I end up calling super early in the morning.  I will try not to call earlier than 4:30... but I won't make any promises.
   I got all my laundrey, emails/letters, & cleaned my room today.  While cleaning our room, Sister Manson was vacuuming & the vacuum exploded all over my bed!  We got it all cleaned up, but it was really funny!
   Anyways, I love you all lots & I hope to hear from you soon!
Love always,
Sister Cox
P.S.  Tell Spencer,Mikaela, & Dad that I haven't heard from the yet & I really want to:)

The MTC is amazing!!

*Email sent on Sept 11, 2013 from the MTC - The only P-day Sister Cox had in the MTC.
MOM!!!! (and family)

The MTC is amazing!! I think I already told you about my companion Sister Reyes. She is from Las Vegas and I love her to death!!! She is such a cutie! If I get the chance I will have to send you some pictures! Sister Reyes is always trying to scare me, and she actually does a pretty good job at it too, she got me really bad while we were doing our service project on Monday. We were vacuuming and I didn't know she was done, and then all of the sudden she popped out of no where. The sisters in my district all share the same room. there are 3 bunkbeds to a room (6 beds) and 4 of us, so we definitely aren't too crowded. The sisters in my district are Sister Reyes and I, and Sister Manson (from Mesa Arizona) who is our sister training leader, and Sister Steadman (from Sandy). We are all going to Philly! We call ourselves the Philly 4! We have 4 Elders in our district. Elder Brown who is our district leader, Elder Steel, Elder Llewelyn, and Elder Whitney. they are all going to Arcadia California. We've only been here for a week and already we feel like a family! It is so cool being able to hear all of their insights and their stories! Oh and funny story, the elders found a "narnia hole" in their room and in it was an armadillo!! haha! 

I got to go to the temple this morning with my zone. It was really neat! This was my first time watching the video and it was really good, but not quite what I was expecting. We stayed in the same room for the whole time which was kind of weird for me... but I LOVED being able to go to the temple! I get the feeling that it is going to be quite a while before I get to go to the temple again... :( We got to eat breakfast at the temple though and it turned out pretty good!

We get new missionaries today! woohoo! Its so weird thinking that I have only been here for a week and now I'm the "old" missionary. When I first came here, the other missionaries seemed so much older and so much wiser than any of us newbies, but in all reality they were exactly the same age as us. I wonder if we will look that way to the missionaries coming in today. The new district that is coming into our zone today are all going to Missouri! there will be 5 Elders and 5 Sisters! We went and decorated the new sisters door to help them feel welcome here at the MTC.

So this is supposedly "top secret" but there is going to be a sister missionary choir for the relief society broadcast coming up here soon, too bad I will be out of the MTC by then... but oh well. I have been able to participate in the choir and I LOVE it! This week we sang Where Can I Turn For Peace? but unfortunately I wasn't able to perform it with the rest of the choir... there wasn't enough seats for us... but it's probably for the better, I haven't had much of a voice lately. I caught a bit of a cold from one of the sisters in my district and so I've been sneezing and I can't always talk... But don't worry, I'm ok! I went to the book store and got some stuff to help me get over it.

My teachers here are Sister Looney (who I absolutely LOVE! I feel like I can relate to her really well, she just got off her mission about 6 months ago) and Brother Adjei (Ahd-Jay is how you say it. He is from Ghanna and has the coolest accent ever. Got to love those African people!!) 

Thank you by the way for the package! It was such a cool surprise to get more than just my bag (which is great by the way, THANK YOU!) I don't know whose idea it was to send that funny flower thing and all the candy, but thanks from the sisters and from me, it really made our day!

We started teaching an investigator yesterday! I don't know if it was real or not, but it felt really real to me! And she was one TOUGH COOKIE! We went into the lesson planning on teaching her about the restoration and the Book of Mormon just to find out that she doesn't even believe in the Bible! But she does believe in God so that gives us at least something to work with...

My last day at the MTC is Monday. If I end up having some time, I may e-mail you again, but otherwise, don't expect an email until the following week :( I report to the MTC travel office at 2:30am on Tuesday and my flight leaves at 6:30am for Minnesota then we have a 1 hour layover... So, I would probably call at the SLC airport... but it would be around 5 or5:30 when I call... you will have to send me a letter to let me know if you want me to call or not... I know that would be really early. But yeah, that is the plan!

The food here is surprisingly pretty good. But they feed you a lot too. They give us all you can eat ice-cream on Sundays and Wednesdays. It's kind of fun.

You will have to tell the Rasmussen's that Elder Hendricks is in my zone and he is actually my zone leader! cool right? We have a large group of people coming to Philly there are 21 of us new missionaries headed on Tuesday.

Oh and I don't know if you have done this already, but there is a page on facebook that you can join. It is called the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission. One of the teachers here at the MTC went to Philly and he took a picture of the sisters in my district and posted it on that page. You will just have to check it out when you get a chance... or just get on my facebook...

I love you lots!!! Hope to talk to you soon!!!

Love,

Sister Cox

p.s.

the computer wont let me upload pictures... sorry :/

Oh mom if its possible could you shrink my patriarchal blessing and laminate it for me? I'm trying to get some pictures sent to you... So keep checking your e-mail!

  

Here are a few pictures of me and my comp and the sisters in my district and my district... I will try to send more...

Just some pictures from our temple walk on Sunday. The one with a whole bunch of people in it is my zone. and then the other one with the 3 elders is everyone in my zone that is going to Philly. I wish i had more time to email... but I have to go! Love you so much!!!

Love,

Sister Cox

First letter from the MTC:)

(Written letter sent in the mail-received Sept. 7, 2013)
Dear Family
   The MTC is AWESOME!  I can't believe how much I am learning & growing already!  The days do seem to go REALLY Long though.  My companion is Sister Erika Reyes.  She is from Las Vegas, she has a twin sister who was here at the MTC(they look like twins, but my comp. has brown hair & her twin is blonde!) who is now a visa waiter in the SLC South mission.  There are 4 sisters in my district & 4 elders.  We have the best district ever!  In my zone there are 12 elders & us 4 sisters.
   We just met with our branch president tonight & I have been assigned as the designated pianist.  I was also appointed as SENIOR Companion!  Woohoo!
   I'm learning so much & the spirit really is my constant companion!  As much as I really do love the MTC, the days seem so long.  I will be excited to finally get to Philadelphia!
   I will have 1 P-day which will be on Wednesday.  Writing this letter is the only acception to P-day.
   Going through some of my things I noticed that I forgot my retainer & my patriarchal blessing.  Would you please mail those to me as well as some mints?  We aren't allowed to chew gum in public...but we can have mints!
   How is everyone doing back home?  Soccer?  Football?  School?  Work?  Anything exciting going on?
   I'm loving feeling the spirit all the time & I love everything I have been learning!  We say so many prayers throughout the day, it's so hard to even put a number on it, but it works!  I begin teaching my investigator tomorrow whose name is Jessica!  Funny right?  I'll have to tell you more later when I have more time to write!
   I hope you all know that I love you & that I am praying for you!  You are the best family in the world & I wouldn't want to share all of eternity with any other amazing people.  Anyway, love you lots!
Love always,
Sister Cox

MTC....the 5 minute drop off:)

MTC day was so FUN! 

 

 When we got to the MTC there were missionaries everywhere!  They were smiling and waving as we drove in.  As we pulled up to the curb, there was Matt's brother Braden.  What a little tender mercy.  It made the whole experience a little easier!  Jessica's luggage was taken out of the car by her dad, she gave everyone a hug, the host sister missionary took our family photo, and she was off!  Not too much time for a whole lot of tears!  What a great experience to see her walk off with excitement and confidence!!!  She was soooo ready to be a missionary!

The "Setting Apart" night!

Tues. night before the MTC, Jessica was set apart by President Scott Hintze.  The whole family was there plus both sets of grandparents.  Everyone got to give Jessica advice.  The best advice was from Spencer.  He told her not to get in trouble so that she wouldn't get sent home:).