Week Eleven

This week was good! I tried mate for the first time and it was awful, haha! It's a drink here in Uruguay and everyone drinks it 24/7, but it tastes like grass! I also got to eat lunch for Thanksgiving in the house of some great members! The dad works in the US embassy here and knows a little about it. It was different, but still super great to celebrate Thanksgiving in Uruguay!

Also this week I had my first true Uruguayan rain storm. I was soaked! We were the only people in the streets the whole time and it was some of the longest 6 hours of my life! I had a good rain jacket that kept the top half of me dry, but it was also super humid so the bottom half of me was wet with rain and the top half of me was wet with sweat... It was an experience at least haha!

Also a member gave me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it was the greatest thing anyone has given me so far here in the mission! Here in Uruguay they don´t have peanut butter and it was so nice just to taste something American haha! The food here´s great, but it isn´t like home.

We have also been doing service the last few weeks for a family, and we are helping them build their house. This last Friday we moved right around 30,000 pounds of dirt to help level the ground... and we did it with buckets! It was hard work, but I love service! We had 8 missionaries helping and it took right around 4 hours.

This week we also lost four investigators. But I just remember the talk by Elder Rasband and he talked about how we are here to find the people God has prepared to accept His gospel. I guess these people just aren´t quite ready yet, and that my job at this point in their lives was to prepare them a little bit more. We have another investigator who wants to get baptized and is doing awesome and making some real changes in his life! That´s the best part of being a missionary is seeing the things that we are sharing with people are helping them make changes in their own lives to follow and come closer to God and Jesus Christ! The feeling is indescribable! Haha!

Also I would encourage everyone to go to www.Mormon.org and check out the new church video for Navidad! It´s awesome! I love this video because it shows that the little things that we do are similar to the miracles that Christ did during His life! It´s the little things that we can do everyday that will change lives! The lives of others and ourselves, I know that every person can choose to follow the Savior at any point in their life! We can each feel the love the Savior has for others and for us when we act as He did and serve those around us! The video is pretty short, but the message is powerful.

Hope all is well at home! Its getting pretty hot here and I have to wear sunscreen everyday haha! Love y´all! 

Love,

Elder Cole

 

Parts of the Email to the family:

 

Sounds like this week has been really great for y´all! Elder Rasband talked about missionary work and the Spirit about it. He also talked about how we as missionaries are the only ones who can really share the gospel and this is our opportunity for two years to do all we can for the Lord.

 

The weather is hot, but survivable. The bugs aren´t bad. just have to wear spray. We actually have an investigator who is getting baptized in January. He´s pretty much ready he just has to start coming to church and that's the hardest part! But we´re excited cause he says he doesn´t feel like he needs to pray cause he always has a prayer in his heart. But this week he told us he has been praying! And feels like he has an answer! He is also starting to try and live the Word of Wisdom which was super hard for him! 

 

We actually did have thanksgiving with a member family cause the dad works at the US embassy here and knows about it. We had roast beef and grilled chicken and cubed potatoes! It was different but still really great!

 

I´ve been wearing my hat and everyone likes it. The call me a cowboy haha!

 

I also got sick for about a day, but it was awful because I couldn´t sleep! But after we studied the next day and started contacting people I totally forgot I was sick and felt fine! This was a tender mercy of the Lord haha! I never did throw up, just felt awful. Love ya Ma! I´ll email you on Tuesday next week cause we have a change so P-Day is Tuesday.  Love y´all! Hope everything at home is great! 

Love,

Elder Cole

Trace said about this picture: I'm enjoying...November.

 

 

 

 

Week 10

The picture is one that I found on Google Earth that we wondered if it was Trace's house, because he said it was orange and I followed his road up and down until I found one kinda orange. And it ended up being his house! I like to stalk my children :)

My mom says that some of my emails didn´t go through, but she has them so they´ll probably be on my Facebook or something haha! 

Anyways this week was great! I got to have my first argument with an atheist so that was interesting! Haha! It ended up well and we´ll see what he thinks of the Book of Mormon! I also get called all sorts of names here, I know most of the bad words thanks to growing up in Warden haha! But yesterday a little old Catholic man called me an Anti-Christ! Haha! That´s a new one! He was really passionate about religion and yelled at us the whole time we walked away! Also some drunk homeless guys tried to ask me for my shoes a couple nights ago! Haha! I really felt bad for the guys but I kinda need these shoes.

I´m doing good for the most part. The blisters on my feet have finally turned to calluses (no idea how to spell that haha). So I´m feeling good!

We also got to go to a conference with Elder Rasband of the 12 Apostles!!! As soon as he walked into the room you could just feel the Spirit and there was no denying he was a prophet of God! Both Uruguayan missions were there and he shook the hand of all 400+ missionaries in attendance! It was incredible to shake his hand! He truly is a man of God! I know it! I can testify of it! I have felt it!

I´m so glad to be a missionary and have experiences like this and share these experiences with others here in Uruguay! Thinking about y´all! Love ya! See ya soon! 

Love,

Elder Cole



From the family email:

Haha! Love seeing the pics! The weather is good... its weird, some days its hot and other days its freezing. But it hasn´t been bad.

You can pray for a man named Daniel, his daughter was just baptized and now he is listening to the lessons; but he wont accept any actions and hasn´t admitted he wants the gospel, but its obvious he is interested. We are gonna ask him about baptism this week... hope we don't scare him away! Also we have a recent convert who is having some personal problems and is talking to other churches so maybe pray for him too, his name is Brian.

We played Risk all last P-day with four other missionaries. I have´nt played soccer yet cause Pres. Eddy has a rule against more than six missionaries meeting anywhere even at the church. And another rule where we can´t play soccer with the people here cause some missionaries got hurt... kinda a bummer cause I wanted to play soccer with some real latinos haha! But its all good.

I like the food, but they don´t season anything and make up for it by using fat and grease... it tastes good but I'm gonna be 300 pounds if I´m not careful haha!

The nights are good now. And YES thats my house haha! 

This week was kinda depressing for our work. Lots of our appointments feel through (like all of them) but we talked to the lady who slammed the door on us a few weeks ago and she was super nice and talked to us for like an hour and we are meeting with here again this week. She told us she has depression. It's possible we just caught her on a bad day and so it´ll be interesting to teach her! Haha!

I´m really starting to feel the Spirit, and at one point we were teaching an old less active couple and he was kinda sick and his wife kept asking us to give him a blessing. My companion told them that if he wasn't better by our next visit, we would give him a blessing. I kept my mouth shut cause my companion would have to be the one to give the blessing cause his Spanish is better than mine. Then while the wife was talking about something else, I got the impression that we could not leave that house without giving a blessing. After that I planned to whisper to my companion that we needed to give a blessing even if it meant that I had to do it. But right after I thought this, my companion offered to give the blessing! It was great cause I know that at that moment the Spirit spoke to each of us individually. I have never had a more distinct impression than I did during this lesson.

Also PACKAGES ARE GOOD! The mail opened up this week and missionaries were getting packages like crazy!

I feel so great right now and I just feel love for everyone! Its not too hard of work, but I fall asleep really fast and the mornings are hard. I´m glad I learned to work hard at home cause I´m doing a lot better than some missionaries who have more time here. I never feel like I have enough sleep, but I´m surviving.

You guys can email me back while I´m still on, I don't have too many girls to email haha. Love ya Pa! You´d never be able to live here... the culture is too different than your personality haha!

Tell Brenton I love him and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I look forward to playing basketball with him and hopefully I´m still taller when I get home! Love y'all.

Love,

Elder Cole

Stole this from a mom on FB. Hope she is okay with it haha!

Here is his house.

Week Nine

Here are the long-lost group emails from the past two weeks - I will post his old ones first:

(Week 1 in Uruguay)
This week has been crazy! I finally got to Uruguay and it's amazing here! It's way different from home! My trainer is Elder Ward from Utah and he's only been here three months! So both of us are having a good time learning Spanish together, but he's way better than me too! He's really cool and is helping me learn a lot! 

The people here are great and they feed us real well! But I have no idea what anyone is saying 90% of the time haha! They talk really fast and way out of my vocabulary range, but it's good, I get a little better at understanding them everyday! For the most part, I can make out a few words and then it sounds like they're gargling or something.

I had to get up and introduce myself in our ward yesterday in Sacrament Meeting... I think it was understandable, but I don't know for sure... There's been times that I've had to teach people solo when my companion has had to make a phone call and it was terrifying, I'm not gonna lie, but I can testify of the gift of tongues now. There's been times I've had no idea what is going on or what to say and then I start speaking and suddenly I understand what I need to say! 

We visited one lady who said she wasn't interested in the church, but she had a question about resurrection. So we taught her the basics of the Plan of Salvation. During the lesson we found out she has a daughter who passed away. It was great to be able to explain to someone that we can be with our families forever! That when we die we are just separated for a little while, but that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can see each other again and live forever with God as a family! I'm so glad for the opportunity I have to share this message with all the people of Uruguay! 

It'll be a while before I get good at Spanish; but until then, I'm happy to be here, bear my testimony and to share the greatest blessing in my life with other people! 

We get fed lunch by the members almost everyday, and for the most part I've really liked the food...but I haven't had anything weird yet so we'll see. We never eat dinner and hardly anything for breakfast, but that's ok I'm getting used to it and I just really love it here in Uruguay! 

We visited Montevideo today because my companion had some legal stuff to do, so I got to tour Montevideo with other missionaries. It was really cool cause I'm in a place called Las Piedras and we are outside the city so we just walk around little neighborhoods... people are kinda poor here... none of the homes are well built and are always just as cold inside as outside and they never have doors so we have to clap instead of knock, but at least they haven't slammed doors in my face! HAha! Love y'all 

Happy Halloween!

- Elder Cole

(Week 2)

This week was good! I got to try Uruguayan BBQ for the first time and ate kidney! It actually wasn't bad haha! 

I ran into Elder Jones from Moses Lake, he's in the area next to ours and is in our zone. 

It's starting to get real hot here and humid... I'm not used to the humidity and so its kinda rough! We just sweat a ton even though its only like 80 degrees here! 

This week we had our first investigator shut us out. We taught this elderly lady a little about the church and when we came back for our next visit, she just cracked the door and said she didn't want to talk to us anymore and slammed it... I was kinda taken back... we knocked again and asked why and she just said that she didn't want to talk to us and that was it. It was kinda hard to take cause I'm learning to love the people here and all of the sudden she just shuts us out. I understand that not everyone will want to hear our message and I can accept that, but it just kinda takes the wind out of your sails cause you can't help but wonder what you could have done better. A while later, me and my companion talked about it as we walked to our next appointment and we were both kinda confused about it. Then a motorcycle passed us and killed its engine right in front of us in the middle of the street. When we walked passed the man called us over and asked if we had a bible we could give him. My companion explained we didn't, but as he spoke I started to gesture towards the Book of Mormon in my hand and offer it to him. Before I even spoke he stopped me and said he knew what it was and that he was a member of the church, but that he was inactive cause he had just moved here a few years ago. He said he would love to meet with us sometime and we gave him the Book of Mormon! I couldn't believe it! Just when me and my companion had needed a pick me up, this completely inactive member came and found us! I have no doubt that it was the Lord just reconfirming to us that He is with us and that he will help me everyday! It was a great experience! We also had 2 baptisms this week and it was cool to take part in my first baptisms as a missionary!

Love y'all! I'll pray for ya! Enjoy the cold weather at home!

Love,

- Elder Cole

(Week Three - CURRENT EMAIL)

This week was interesting... First off EVERYONE here likes to talk about Donald Trump! Haha! They can´t believe he won and they are all kinda scared! 

Also Uruguay beat Ecuador this week in international futból! We didn't watch it but we heard all about it. Also no one wants to talk to missionaries when Uruguay plays, so we don´t have much to do haha! 

We´ve been doing a lot of looking for more people to teach cause after the two baptisms, we don't have anyone who is really progressing. So this week was a lot of walking. But we found a handful of people who seem interested. So I´m hopeful that we can start teaching a lot more again. 

This week was kinda rough... I´ve been feeling better about my Spanish cause I´m starting to be able to understand people, but now I´ve realized that people can´t understand me... Which is worse. If I can´t understand them, at least I can teach a little and my companion can answer questions, but if they can´t understand me then I can´t teach! It was really heavy on my mind for about a day, but I prayed about it that night and I got my answer. I just need to teach and say what I can, and the Lord will make up for my inabilities. I guess I needed to be a little humbled and learn to trust in the Lord more. I´ve started to just teach and hope that what I say can be brought to their hearts through the Spirit. Since I´ve started doing this, I have enjoyed my mission so much more, just in the last three days! I just feel so much more comfortable with people and I´m starting to come to love them more too! 

I´ve learned a lot this week, and I´m glad I´ve had this experience early in my mission and not later! Hope all is well at home! Thinking of ya! I hope when I get home "America is Great Again!" ;) I always pray for y´all! Love ya. 

Love,

Elder Cole

Parts of the family email: 

We google earthed his area and sent Trace a picture of his church (see picture below):

That's my stake center! we live across the big street to the left. My address is 353 Santa Lucia I think. 

That's crazy that Trump won haha! I thought Hilary had it! We heard about it the day after the election because the people here are super excited to talk to two Americans about it haha! But they are also terrified cause "Trump hates immigrants." 

I have flossed more in the last 2 weeks than I have the entire rest of my life haha!  

I went on an exchange this week with an elder from Brazil. He's pretty cool and always positive! It was fun, but I also realized that our area is the poor area of Las Piedras. The people in the other two areas are way better off. Its kinda humbling to see people live like they do. Not everyone is poor, but lots of people are more poor than anything in Warden. 

One of our investigators is also really sick with tuberculosis and cant leave the hospital for at least 6 months! So I will probably never get the chance to teach him again. He lost 30 pounds and he was skinny already! He cant leave his bed but he says hes been reading the Book of Mormon and praying everyday, he wasn't doing that before so maybe this experience will convert him.

Anyways love ya Ma!  I really am enjoying my mission! 

- LOve Elder Cole

Love ya Pa!  

We eat plenty, most missionaries in this mission gain weight actually. There's a missionary in our district who gained so much weight in his first nine months that he is having knee problems cause they can't take the added weight. I don't want to come back fat! Haha! I've been cooking the spuds and hot dogs you used to cook us and so I'm sure I can survive even if we don't eat dinner. 

- Love Elder Cole

Chad found Trace's church building on Google Earth

Week Eight

(Most of Trace's email is answers to my questions, so that's why he talks about random stuff. We also did not receive a group email that he discusses toward the end of the email. We are curious if anyone got a group email from him?)

Hey Ma! Yeah, we walk everywhere and now that the blisters on my feet have started to turn into calluses, it isn't bad. It's a good sized area with several neighborhoods, but it's not like we have to walk miles to get from one to the next, they all kinda run together. Look up the LDS Church stake building in Obelisco, Las Piedras and we live like a block from there... other than that I have no idea haha! 

We eat with members everyday almost for lunch and it's great - I love the food here! But that is usually what we eat all day, maybe a piece of toast or an egg for breakfast, but I'm ok. 

The streets are really similar to Warden's, the major ones are paved (with lots of pot holes) and the smaller streets are dirty/gravel. 

I was cold, but now it's super hot and humid (it's awful)  I just lay on top of all my blankets cause it's too hot to wrap up. We actually have a washing machine so that's nice, but we have to hang dry our clothes and they just don't feel the same! 

We have to pay for the Internet, but its pretty cheap. Today is my first real P-day cause last week we had meetings in Montevideo, but all we've done so far is clean the house and fix our bathroom... or try at least... the shower leaks so there's water all over the bathroom floor all the time... it definitely isn't home. 

My comp is actually our district leader too so that's kinda cool and stressful for him. He's from West Jordan Utah, His name is Ryan Ward. He had a sister get married like 2 weeks ago while he is on his mission. 

Love seeing pics! Love Y'all! Funny you talked about cleaning a missionaries teeth because I hate to tell ya, but I'm a calculus builder! HAha! I've been brushing every morning and every night and I floss at night usually too, but I still have some calculus. But don't worry I know a good hygienist at home who can clean me up in a couple years ;)   

This week was good! I finally got to try asado, BBQ! It was really good! I ate kidney too... it's good I guess... kinda chewy and every once in a while you'll chew a ligament or something and its crunchy, but it wasn't bad. 

We did service for a member family this week cause there was a really windy day and the roof to their shed blew off, so we helped them build a new roof. The weather here is really nice right now, but its humid so I just sweat all the time! Also no one has AC so it doesn't matter what you do or where you go, YOU SWEAT! We had two baptisms this week! That was really cool to be a part of! Then at church in sacrament meeting I got to stand in the circle when our investigators received the Holy Ghost, so that was really special for me to be a part of! There was a less active member too that we had never met or knew about, who called us and asked for a priesthood blessing! So I got to anoint someone with oil for the first time and in Spanish too! I was kinda nervous, but it was fine. We visited the family later this week and the man says he feels healed! 

I also have another story, but I'm gonna put it in my group email so you can find it there. DO NOT SEND ME ANY PACKAGES RIGHT NOW! They are having a mail strike in Uruguay and no one can get mail packages. I can probably buy a sleeping bag here. I found out a place called La Paz is in my mission, I thought it was in the other... Mike Villareal says he knows families there so if you could talk to him and get names and maybe if I ever serve there I can look for them. La Paz is like 20 minutes from where I'm at now. 

Tell Hallie HAPPY BIRTHDAY for me! I'm excited to see how grown up she is when I get home! 

Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole