September 6, 2023

Dear Family,

Only a few days till we leave on our mission.  We are almost ready & most eager to jump into this new adventure in our lives.  This will complete a goal that we set However, we are very anxious about leaving for a whole year.  It will be hard not seeing all of you for such a long period of time.  But we have faith that our family will be blessed because our service.  We would like to share our experience with the family in as many ways as possible.  One way we will share is that we will start a blog, on blogspot for a weekly letter/communication.  Our address at blogspot is garycaroleecox.blogspot.com.  On the blog you can reply back and we can have any discussion we want. We can post pictures there too, so it will keep the mission experience all in one place.  (We promise that we won’t post pictures of food) 😊 That will keep the GroupMe site free for the regular chat that happens (which I think is great!) and which we will continue to join in as well.  The kids can get on and read it too if they wish.

Another way we’d like to have you share this missionary experience is by way of invitation.  We would like to invite every member of our family to read the Book of Mormon with us during the year we are gone.  Obviously, with an invitation, you can easily choose to accept it or not.  We hope you will accept.

We acknowledge that not all of you agree with or believe the same things we believe, but we still extend the invitation to you…after all we are going to be “missionaries”. 😊

So, in the Gospel Library app at ChurchofJesusChrist.org, you can set up and customize a reading plan that will divide the Book of Mormon into 365 segments.  Once set up, you just click on the assigned reading and it takes you to that chapter and verse and you can read it right there.  Then there is a place to check it off and it will record it for you.  It is very slick and easy to set up.  It will be about a chapter a day.

Instructions:  On your phone, go to gospel library app and make sure you are logged in with your church ID.  Then scroll to STUDY PLANS and click + Create plan.  Select Book of Mormon and follow Prompts.  We have selected start date of September 12, a one-year plan. 

In our weekly blog, we will be able to share about what learned that week in our reading as part of our sharing.  We also recognize that the younger children may not have a device and/or can’t read.  If they can read, you could make sure they know where to read, the others don’t be worried about them.  An unintended benefit will be we’ll have a jump on next years Come Follow Me, Book of Mormon. 

As we’ve talked about, senior missionaries really have no rules, so we can call, receive calls, portal (we are taking the portal), and text anytime. If we can take a call or text we will.  If we are tied up or can’t take it, we will call back when we can.  Technology and the flexible rules will make a big difference in being able to stay connected!! 

We love you all so much that it hurts…😊

Love,

Mom & Dad