Week 67 - Christmas Day

Feliz Navidad! This week was great! Rocha is really different from any of my other areas and its great to be here! I don`t have much time, but I wanted you all to know that I love ya and hope you have a Merry Christmas! It really is special to be a missionary during Christmas because I don`t have to think about any Christmas things except the reason we celebrate, Christ! 

“To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable and it becomes the Spirit of Christ.”  President Thomas S. Monson

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and can truly feel the Christmas Spirit today! Love y'all!

Elder Cole

1. I got to try cow tongue for the first time for Christmas dinner! It wasn`t too bad haha!

2. We also BBQ`d a nice lamb and it turned out pretty well for being cooked by four missionaries!

3. Just waiting to watch the fireworks at midnight! 

Week 66

This week was a good one! We had the chance to do a lot of work and see a lot of miracles! It was incredible to see the Lord going before us and preparing the way! I have no doubt that every time we had success this week it was because the Lord had guided us! 

This week my companion and I had the chance to work with the Assistants to the mission President. It was awesome because one used to be in Treinta y Tres with me and we are good friends! I got to work with him all day in one of the most dangerous parts of our whole mission and we survived! We started the day doing some service for one of their investigators, painting their house. I got to talking to the teenage son, and he explained to me that the stains that I was painting over on the door were from his blood because last Sunday he got stabbed in that house! Haha! The family was super great and the son is doing fine, he just had to go to the hospital for a little while. 

Then we worked like normal until 8:30 pm. We still had a half an hour and had run out of plans, so we decided to offer a quick prayer in the street asking the Lord to guide us to find one more person to teach that night. Then we took off looking. We knocked a few houses and they all rejected us, but told us to go to a specific house, where a family had recently moved into. When we finally knocked that door, they weren´t interested. By this point we had lost a lot of our motivation, and because it was so late we started to walk home, but as we left that house I felt the impression to knocked the door next to it. A little old lady answered and said she didn´t have time right then, but has been waiting for us to come by. She said that years ago she was just about to be baptized and her life fell apart and she lost everything she had. Now she wants to start talking to us again, be baptized and "come back to Christ" (as she put it). It was amazing! The very last door that we knocked that night ended up being the person that we had prayed to find! I have no doubt that the Lord answered our prayers and helped us find someone who as been looking for the Gospel!

We also got changes this week and I will be headed to a place called Rocha! It is pretty much all the nice beaches in Uruguay! My new companion is Elder Anampa from Peru! I got to work with him a little bit a while back because he was in my zone, he is super cool and I am excited to work with him! 

Love y'all!

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

Hey Ma! I am writing today because we are having changes differently this week for Christmas! Hahah! Surprise! 

This week was good! We got changes last night and I am leaving Maldonado.... I am headed to a place called Rocha with an Elder from Peru, Elder Anampa. I have worked with him before, he´s awesome! I am super excited! 

Rocha is kind of notorious in the mission because it is a super hard zone.... they don´t baptize hardly at all and there are only elders in the zone not sisters, because they need the priesthood to run the church meetings. I am actually really nervous to be honest, but I am also really excited because this is my chance to see the Lord work through me and make a big change in the mission! I have kind of been wanting to go to Rocha, but I know it will definitely be tough! I am excited to see what happens! 

Week 65

This week was great! I finally became a legal Uruguayan citizen! It only took me 14 months, but it finally happened haha! While we were there we were really close to the most famous plaza in all of Uruguay, Plaza Independecia, so I swung over there and visited it! It was great! Usually we can`t go there because it is in the other mission in Uruguay, but since we were already there I took advantage of the opportunity! 

Last Sunday (not yesterday, but the one before) we had to go looking for some investigators right before church started and by the time we went and got the investigators and made it back to church we had missed the Sacrament. I have missed the Sacrament before the mission and I always felt like something was missing during those weeks, but this week I definitely felt a difference. It was incredible to feel the lack of the Spirit throughout the week. Most of the time I didn`t notice, but there were times that I felt less powerful spiritually... This week as I thought about Sacrament and the affect that it has on me I just happened to read in 3 Nephi chapter 20 during my personal studying and I read about when Jesus institutes the Sacrament among the Nephites, 

7 But he truly gave unto them bread to eat, and also wine to drink.

8 And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled.

9 Now, when the multitude had all eaten and drunk, behold, they were filled with the Spirit; and they did cry out with one voice, and gave glory to Jesus, whom they both saw and heard.

When I read this I realized just how important it is to take the Sacrament every week and be "filled with the Spirit".  This week I truly gained a testimony of the importance and power of the Sacrament! It is an ordnance so important that Jesus taught it just before his death to his apostles in Jerusalem and just after his resurrection as He visited the Americas!

This week we also had the baptism of Victoria, Veronica and Cesar! They are 3 super awesome youth that have really made some changes in their lives to follow Jesus Christ! We just happened to knock their door about a month ago when another lesson that we had fell through and I have no doubt that the Lord led us there! Since then we have had the opportunity to teach them  and help them overcome their challenges as they have chosen to follow Christ! The mission truly is something special and I can`t imagine what I would be doing if I wasn`t here! It is a blessing to be an instrument in the Lord`s hands! 

Hope y'all have a great week! Love ya!

Love,

Elder Cole

1. Having some fun at the beach

2. The Baptism!

3&4. Plaza de Independencia

week 64

This week was good! It was a week full of miracles and hard days haha! I really got to see how much I have grown over this last 14 months!

That miracle family that we found last week is just a blessing! We had the chance to go by and really get to know them this last week and we found out that the father is a less-active member, but that the rest of the family has never been baptized. The dad still has good memories of the church and seems like he still believes in a lot of church standards. When we invited the mother and oldest daughter to be baptized they got really excited and the mother even asked if she could be baptized this Saturday! We had to slow her down a little and explain that she would need a little time to prepare. When we find people like this family it makes all the rest of the harder days worth it! 

After talking to this family we were feeling really good and I guess the Lord chose to humble us because for the next three days we just walked non-stop haha. They were reeeeaaaaallly long days, but I really reflected on the faith that I have come to have during my mission. When I started my mission I would have had a day like that and I would have felt down and blamed myself. A lot of times I have had thoughts like, "if only I had more faith then the Lord would help us find someone to teach" or "If I was a better missionary than we wouldn`t just be wasting time in the street". Now I feel a lot more confidence in the Lord! I know that if He wants me to walk in the street from 10am til 9pm then I will do it.... and I will do it willingly. I would prefer to be teaching and talking to people all the time, but I know now that as long as I am giving ALL that I can, then all I can do is trust in the Lord and He will do His will. 

This week had its ups and its downs and I am really glad to have had a week like this! I have learned a lot and have really learned to start loving the people as Jesus loves them. I still have a long way to go, but i love the people here in Uruguay and I wouldn`t rather be living anywhere else! I hope you all had a great week and that this week is even better! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 63

This week was great! I had the chance to work with two other missionaries that are in our zone and I really learned a lot from them! I just seemed to see a ton of little miracles that helped me know that the Lord is with us! 

One miracle we saw this week should have been a miracle we saw two weeks ago. One night we didn`t have much to do and as we looked for someone to teach we thought of a young guy we had met a couple of weeks back, but he plays soccer and is super hard to find at home. We decided to go look for him anyways even though we knew it was probably a long shot. Like we expected he wasn`t home, but he lives on the end of a long dark passage way and there was always another door about halfway along that we had never knocked. We decided to knock it and ended up finding a really cool lady and her three kids! She told us that she and her husband have been wanting to talk to us, and that a few weeks ago they saw us knocking the other door and as we left she tried to come out and invite us in to talk to them , but we had already left. A few weeks ago (I am pretty sure that very same night) both Elder Guañunua and I felt like we should knock that door, but we didn`t and we missed the opportunity to find this super cool family! I have no doubt that the Spirit was trying to lead us to them weeks ago, but we just didn`t listen and that this week we had finally given the attention that was needed so that we would find that family! To be honest it`s kind of embarrassing that we weren`t paying attention before, but I am glad that the Lord had patience with us and helped us run into this family now! 

This week we just kept working with the families from last weeks email and we are really excited for them to keep growing spiritually and making these great changes in their lives! 

Today we had a zone activity and we ate Thanksgiving dinner (for lunch)! It was great! Not exactly the same as the states, but we made it work! We had a couple of chickens, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, lemon pie, french fries, and a cool Brazilian dessert! It was definitely a Thanksgiving that I won`t forget! Haha! 

Hope all is going well at home! Uruguay is a blast and I love being here! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

This week was good. We had a couple of exchanges with other elders and they all went pretty well. I get kind of nervous being the example, but I always feel like the Lord helps me be good enough to help the other missionaries haha! Then we headed to Montevideo nice and early, because I did some paper work to become a Uruguayan citizen! In just a couple of weeks I will have my own Id haha! All is good here Ma! Love ya!

Love 

<Elder Cole

Week 62

This week was great! I had the chance to go to Montevideo 2 days back to back this week and it definitely took a little bit of a toll. We just had a lot to do when we were finally able to work in Maldonado and having conferences always drains me spiritually. But as always it was incredible to get extra guidance from President Eddy and I feel like there just aren`t enough hours in the day to do everything that I want to get done.  This week the Lord showed me, however, that even though we have to be home by 9pm and can`t leave the house until 10am He will make it possible for us to accomplish everything we need to, IF we put forth the diligence and work. We had 2 miracles this week! 

1) By the weekend we had worked hard, but we were a little nervous because we had gone all week without finding anyone new to teach.  As we worked all week it just seemed like we were almost working in vain, but the Lord helped us find the people that He is truly preparing! We decided to go visit a single mother that we met last week and see if we could talk to her and her 9 year old son. When we showed up to her house we didn`t just find her, but also several of her kids (we found out later that she has 10 kids!) and we had the chance to get to know them and share the Book of Mormon with their family! 

2)  Another day this week we worked hard and just didn`t seem to find any success, the only glimmer of light that we had was a Family Home Evening that night.  Just as the sun was going down we arrived at the Family Home Evening and found out that the family had to cancel and now we stuck with not much to do and a couple of hours in the day. We decided to go visit a family that we had talked to a couple of weeks ago, but had rejected us. I have no doubt that the Lord inspired us to go because we had to walk half an hour to get there and if it was up to me we probably wouldn`t have gone haha! But we went and we were able to sit down and get to know this great family of 4 that is really looking for some religious clarity. 

In both these experiences it is clear to me that the Lord has listened and responded to my prayers. Last week I fasted especially that we would be able to find a family that would be prepared for us to teach. Since that time, we have found and began teaching several families about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  The Gospel truly is a blessing in our lives and I am so glad that I can be the means by which the Lord will help others feel these blessings! 

Love y'all! Hope all is well at home!

Love,

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

We only had the weekend to get all the work we needed to do done before Sunday. It was really stressful. We are teaching a family right now and the dad is a less active member, but he is super cool and wants his 4 kids to be baptized! We are also working with another young man that heard about the church from his cousin and now he is willing to do anything (quit smoking, read the Book of Mormon, come to church) so that he can be baptized! We are super glad we found him! We have also been looking for new people to teach and we ended up finding a family with a single mom and 10 kids! Some are older, but it is going to be a huge chance to strengthen this family!  

All is good here! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 61

This week was good! On Wednesday we had a huge conference with the other mission here in Uruguay because Bishop Davis from the Presiding Bishopric came to speak! It was super cool to be with over 400 missionaries and get to hear from both mission presidents and their wives! It was great as always to learn especially from President Eddy! We even got to met Bishop Davis real quick and it was great to hear him speak to us. He spoke of finding patterns in the scriptures. It was a good talk, but what I really learned was more from the example he showed rather than the words he spoke. Both he and President Eddy shared things that they had learned in their personal study of the scriptures, and what really interested me was that they didn`t just read the scriptures and make a mental note of the things they liked (like I do sometimes), but they truly searched the scriptures! Both of them found something as they read that they wanted to apply in their lives and then searched for how the people in the scriptures applied that lesson! It was incredible because as I studied the rest of the week, I tried to do the same and I learned so much more from the scriptures than I ever have! I wasn`t just reading to learn, but to learn how to apply  these lessons in my life! The conference really was something really great! It was also awesome to stand and sing "Called to Serve" all together as one big group! An experience I will never forget! 

Not much else happened this week.... I got bit by my first dog here in Uruguay haha! But we ended up finding a really cool guy at that house so it was worth it haha! I hope all is well at home! The mission is great and there isn`t anywhere I`d rather be than right here in Maldonado right now! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

Hey Ma! It is going good here in Maldonado! We should be seeing a lot of good things happening soon! The guy that went to Treinta y Tres came back, we finished the lessons he needed and then he got kicked out of his house so he is moving back to Treinta y Tres. So he is completely ready, and we just have to call the other missionaries and let them baptize him. It really stinks because it was going to be the coolest baptism I have ever had! He is claustrophobic so he said he wouldn`t be baptized in the font, so we got special permission to baptize him in the ocean.... but now the other missionaries will get to baptize him in a river in Treinta y Tres.

We also had a baptism this week of a little 9 year old boy! His family was inactive and we reactivated them and baptized the youngest kid! Now they are helping fellowship the other investigators we are bringing to church!

Love,

Elder Cole

1. Got to see some old friends from all over the Americas at the conference (Utah, Washington, Colombia, Peru)

2. A guy in our ward got his mission call, he`s headed to Bolivia

Week 60

This week was great! We had a ton of work to do, but we also saw a ton of blessings everyday! This last week we had the chance to talk with President Eddy one-on-one in our interviews! It is always great to talk to him and get some extra guidance.  We are also in changes week! But luckily I am not getting changed and will be here in Maldonado with Elder Guañuna for another 6 weeks! We will see miracles here! 

This week we also made the decision to go to some parts of our area that we haven´t worked in very much and see if we could find people that were prepared to hear the Gospel. I was a little nervous because if we didn´t find anything we would be wasting time traveling and would loose a full day of work. We actually ended up finding a few really good people that have been prepared by the Lord to hear this message! We even found some great families and they seemed super excited to see us. At one point as a young man prayed with us he said, "Thank you for sending the missionaries that I have been waiting for."  I actually felt a little guilty that we hadn´t gone out there to find him sooner and he has had to wait so long haha! 

With all the miracles we saw this week we also saw a lot of opposition. I have realized throughout my mission, but particularly this week, the influence of Satan over the families. This week we taught a really amazing woman, who would be baptized so fast, but she has to get married and her "partner" doesn´t want to. She actually sent us a message the other day saying that she didn´t want to keep coming to church because it would be impossible to be baptized for that reason... and both my companion´s and my heart broke... She isn´t the only one either. There have been at least 4 families here in Maldonado that love the church and want to be baptized, but for different reasons cannot accept marriage and for that reason their spiritual progression has stopped. I honestly believe that the culture and way of thinking that Satan has managed to create regarding marriage in these last days has become one of the greatest stumbling blocks keeping people for being truly happy. People just don´t understand the blessings that come from a family bond by marriage, they just see it as a piece of paper. I am so glad for the blessings of having a family united in marriage and a family that I can spend the eternities with. It has been and will be one of the greatest blessings in my life and I am here right now to help others have those blessings too!

President Gordon B. Hinkley said,

“I see a wonderful future in a very uncertain world. If we will cling to our values, if we will build on our inheritance, if we will walk in obedience before the Lord, if we will simply live the gospel, we will be blessed in a magnificent and wonderful way. We will be looked upon as a peculiar people who have found the key to a peculiar happiness."

I love yall! Hope ya have a great week!

Love,

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

Hey Ma! We got the changes last night and I am STAYING! I am super glad to be staying here one more change with Elder Guañuna! We have so much good things set up right now that we will for sure see big things this next change! 

I saw Hallie´s picture and it is so funny that she is the Keeper of Romance! Brenton looks taller, but I am still holding out on a little bit of hope that I will grow a little in the mission! But he can have more armpit hair than me, I will let him win that one ;) 

Where are you guys at in the Book of Mormon right now? I am at the end of Alma in my personal study.

I was thinking about Cody the other day. I hope Kris is doing well!

That is crazy that you already have snow! I don´t remember it being like that when I was home. 

I will keep you in my prayers like always! Thanks for the Spiritual thought!

Love,

Elder Cole

This is a tortugon.. or part of it anyway... 

Week 59

Well this week was a good one! This week we had a multi-zone conference with over 40 missionaries and President Eddy! It was great! I love getting the chance to hear from President Eddy and learn from him and just become a better missionary and an overall better person! Just when I start thinking that I have got this whole missionary thing figured out President Eddy teaches something else and I realize just how little about teaching the Gospel that I actually know haha! 

This week I also had the chance to do a few baptismal interviews for a family that was going to be baptized! There is absolutely nothing like feeling the Spirit guide you when you are in an interview like that. I know that I could not have done it without the Spirit. There were a few times that I would think to myself, "Is this person really ready to be baptized?" And instantly I would just know, I would just feel that, yes, they were ready to make this covenant with the Lord. I just leave the room after every interview and I think about it and I don`t even feel like I did the interview at all, but someone else acting through me! 

Just feeling the Spirit lead me like this made me remember a quote by Elder Neil L. Andersen in the last General Conference, 

"I promise you that as you prepare your spirit and come with the anticipation that you will hear the voice of the Lord, thoughts and feelings will come into your mind that are customized especially for you."

I have no doubt that this promise from an Apostle of the Lord is true! I have felt it! And I know that you have too! I hope that as I continue throughout my mission and my life that I can continue to feel the profound influence of the Holy Ghost.

I hope this week is a great one for all of you! You are always in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Cole

1. We hiked Cerro del Toro this P-day and got some pictures with a bull statue. 

2. All of us with the bull

3. We visited some caves and took some silhouette photos

Photo credit to the Wankiers:

Week 58

This week was tough... We saw a lot of miracles and we worked hard, but it was a week when I was shown what weaknesses I have. I guess it is good, now I can move forward and be better. I am hopeful that this week will be better and that I will be better too haha! I realized this week that recently I have been too prideful. I guess I haven`t relied on the Lord as much as I have needed to. I have learned on my mission that the Lord needs His servants to be humble, either we can choose to be humble or we can be obliged to be humble, but a true servant of the Lord will always be humble. I realized last night that this week was a wake up call for me to be better and I look forward to seeing what I can do this next week, holding nothing back and just relying on the Lord with faith!  This week helped me understand again a talk by Elder Bednar,

"Each of us also carries a load. Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints... Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness... The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah. I testify and promise the Savior will help us to bear up our burdens with ease...  We also will pray for the strength to learn from, change, or accept our circumstances rather than praying relentlessly for God to change our circumstances according to our will. We will become agents who act rather than objects that are acted upon."

This week I also had the chance to hike Cerro Pan de Azucar! It is one of the highest points in Uruguay and it was great to hike again! It was also super cool to get to visit a national Uruguayo landmark and climb the big cross at the top of the mountain! 

This week was great, it was tough, I am glad it is over, but I wouldn`t ever give up the chance to be on the mission sharing the Gospel! There is a love and a light in the eyes of other people as they, little by little, change their lives and no bad week will ever make me wish I was home! I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Cole​

Week 57

Hey MA! I can´t write. We had some problems with computers so I am writing late. I love you guys! This week was great! I am loving it here and I will fill you all in on the miracles next week!

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 56

This week was great! It was actually kind of a short work week for us. We had a conference in Montevideo, and then we stayed over night because my companion had to sign some legal papers and I just got to relax and not do too much while we waited haha! 

This week we saw all sorts of miracles too! And it was interesting because every miracle we saw came from another disappointment. A lot of times during my mission when things don`t go as planned and the lessons we have fall through, I get a little disappointed and frustrated; but this week I just made it a point to try and be positive no matter what happened! God knows everything and if I am fully willing to trust in Him, sometimes He wants me to do things that I wasn`t planning on. This week we had times when we would try to visit investigators and they weren`t home, but instead of getting upset, I made it a point to look for what the Lord wanted me to do in that moment other than what I had planned. It has been hard actually to get myself to start thinking this way, but we have seen so many little miracles and I feel like I am using my time way more now and I feel happier.  I guess I just try to always think of what the Lord`s will is and try to forget what my own plans are... I hope that I can get really good at training myself to think like this so when things don`t go as planned after the mission, I can keep trusting in the Lord and doing His will in my life. I was thinking about the General Conference we just had and I realized that several speakers spoke of trusting in the Lord, and so I have tried to trust in Him all I could this week. I gave Him all I had. I love this quote from conference, 

"We cannot control all that happens to us, but we have absolute control over how we respond to the changes in our lives. This does not imply that the challenges and trials we face are of no consequence and easily handled or dealt with. It does not imply that we will be free from pain or heartache. But it does mean that there is cause for hope and that due to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can move forward and find better days—even days full of joy, light, and happiness."

 - Bishop W. Christopher Waddell. 

I hope you all are well! I love you all and you are always in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

Hey Ma! Yeah, I really like our area! Since my new companion got here we really started taking off! We should be seeing some baptisms soon! 

There are these things called tortugones that you can only eat in Maldonado and they are incredible. I love them! There is all sorts of great food here! The members say that the missionaries get fat in our ward so I guess we will see haha! 

Yeah Mom only 10 months...... unless I extend...... ;)  That is awesome that you guys have been reading more! I have really realized how important it is to read the Book of Mormon everyday and also as a family. I can`t tell you how many families are having issues with their kids and if they were just having better family home evenings and scripture studies than it would help, but usually by the point of problems it is too late to start doing those things.  Love ya Ma!

(Below pictures) Photo credit to Brother and Sister Wankier

http://gordon-renee-in-uruguay.blogspot.com/