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/

Week 55

Wow! This week was great! The whole week was just super busy and fun, but General Conference this weekend was without a doubt something special! It was too bad that President Monson couldn`t have been there, but the other talks were just as powerful as anything President Monson could have told us. As I listened to every session, it seemed like there were a few things that several speakers brought up, humility, service, social websites, ect. But by far the most talked about subject during this General Conference was the Book of Mormon! 

I think that it is incredible that just six months after President Monson gave his 3 to 4 minute talk about the importance of the Book of Mormon, the Apostles and General Authorities of the church expanded and deepened the prophets message that every member, no matter the age, should read the Book of Mormon everyday! I liked President Nelson`s talk a lot as he focused on the importance and power of the Book of Mormon. President Nelson asked three questions that really inspired me to reflect on my answers, "How would my life be without the Book of Mormon?" "What would I not know" "What would I not have?"  I love the Book of Mormon and to hear the Apostles speak of it so much really inspired me to learn to love it even more. My testimony of this church is based in that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I don`t know where I would be if I hadn`t had the chance to study the Book of Mormon, but I know that I wouldn`t be in Uruguay sharing something that I really love!

Just as the conference ended we headed to the home of some people that we had met earlier in the week. As we got to know them we learned that they were really strong in their Evangelist church. It was amazing to see their love for the Bible and their willingness to follow the Savior Jesus Christ. We taught them about Christ`s church and the restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith. We then explained a little of the Book of Mormon and that`s when the father of the family began to verbally attack us. He wasn`t malicious or mean, but was firm in his doubts about the Book of Mormon. For some time we debated and talked using spiritual experiences, examples and even the Bible to back up the truth of the Book of Mormon, but after all that was said, all I could do in the end was bear testimony that I know that The Book of Mormon is the the word of God. No one can take that knowledge from me, and as we testified of the truths that we know, both my companion and I were filled with feelings of power, peace and asurity that I am not sure I have felt before. 

Without a doubt the Book of Mormon is from God. I am so glad to be a missionary at this time in my life so that I can share this knowledge with others. My testimony is not close to the ones that we heard in General Conference, but it truly is an honor for me to bear my testimony  of the Book of Mormon to the people of Uruguay, just as the Apostles of Jesus Christ bore theirs to the world this last weekend. 

President Nelson ended his talk with the promise that we will receive guidance and answers as well as power against temptation, if we study the Book of Mormon everyday. I know that his promise is real and I hope to see more of God`s power and guidance as I study each day. 

Love Yall,

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email, answering my questions:

Hey Ma! The conference was super great! It is always super awesome to hear form the apostles! My companion is cool. He`s going to BYU after too, and we get along pretty well. No, I haven`t had any luck with my comps having available sisters haha... You can pray for Ismael, Rosa and Ismael, Sabino and the Madruga family. President Eddy is super great! He isn`t strict at all, we just follow what the mission manual says and he doesn`t add anything more to it. He is super inspired and its always great to hear him talk. I wouldn`t be too surprised if he is a general authority after his time as mission president. Hermana Eddy is super great. She is super sweet and just tries to always help as much as she can. Love ya Ma!

Love,

Elder Cole