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