Week 101 - THE END!

Well this is my last week in Uruguay. I have been trying not to think about it too much for several reasons. One is that I am going to miss the culture and people here a lot! It has also been a dream of mine or a long time to be a missionary and I can´t believe it´s ending. But I also have a lot of work to do here in Melo until Thursday when I head to Montevideo. However it doesn´t matter how much I try its always in the back of my mind that in just a few days the life that I have known for the last 2 years will end. I am excited to see what the future holds and to continue growing as the Lord wants for me.

My mission has not been easy and I feel like it is impossible to describe the mission in an adequate way, but I have loved every moment of it! I have truly come to know more about the Savior and about His gospel. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ! My mission has meant everything to me. It has forever changed my life and I am thankful that my mission has been the means of changing the lives of others as well.

I have been trying to think of what I could write in my last email to really just wrap up my mission, but words can´t really describe what the mission has done for me. So my testimony is simple. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Church of God. I have no doubt. I have felt the love and goodness of God for all His children, even those who are a little "lost" in this life. He loves them and He has a plan for them and for each of us. We truly do have a Father in Heaven and each of us are His Children. He has great things planned for us! We just need the faith to see it!

See y'all in 5 days!

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 100!!!!

This week was a good week! I really love the mission! It`s been a great time! The things that I have learned and then people I have come to love are truly unforgettable! 

This week we had a little miracle! Sofia got baptized! She is the daughter of active members of the church and she turned 9 last week. She was never baptized when she was 8 because she never felt like she had a testimony, but we were visiting her family this week and they asked us for help. It was pretty fast and crazy, but we taught her everything and Sofia decided that now was the time to get baptized! 

This week I had the chance to work on some Christlike attributes. I started the week off asking the Lord to help me be a little more patient, humble and charitable. The Lord responded to my prayers haha! There were little things throughout the week that gave me the chance to better develop these qualities. Since this was one of my last weeks I really just wanted to dig down and work, just leave everything I have... But my companion had some tooth pain this week and we spent some time visiting dentists and resting.  Sometimes the pain was so bad he didn`t speak and i had to do all the teaching haha!  One day the pain was just Too much and Elder Sarango laid down to rest for a little while. I guess I am a little selfish and wanted to wake Elder Sarango up and go out to work. I decided to ask the Lord what He would have us do. As I prayed, I felt that Elder Sarango needed to rest and that this was a chance for me to work on some of the attributes I want to develop. So I started reading a talk about charity and after reading for a few minutes the clear impression came to me to stop reading about charity and start being charitable. I spent the next hour and a half looking for little things to do to help the other guys in the house. I can`t say that I am the most humble, patient or charitable person, but the mission (and the Lord) have made me a lot more than I used to be!

I know that the Lord loves us and is interested in each of our lives! He wants to help us and make us better, we just need to be willing to follow Him. I hope ya`ll had a great week! Love ya!

Elder Cole

Week 99

This week was good! We worked really hard this week and I definitely felt the Lord`s help as we taught the people! This week we had a conference in Montevideo and so we had a long day of traveling. But it was super nice to be able to see some of my friends, from other parts of the mission, for probably the last time here in Uruguay. It was also really special because it was my birthday and since I will be going home soon I had the opportunity to share my testimony with them! 

I learned a lot this week about leadership and about my own personal development. Normally I have the chance to see the Lord make deep changes in the lives of other people, but this week it seemed that happened was to mold me rather than others.  We saw a lot of people make changes in their lives this week, but I also really felt the Lord was teaching me a lot. It was not an easy week, but it was a good week and I really saw some changes that the Lord wants me to make. It reminds me of the scripture,

 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." . Ether 12:27

I am thankful for the changes that the Lord has made in my life and for the opportunity that I have to help others make these changes in their lives! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about change. If the Church or our calling in the Church doesn`t make us change, we aren`t truly applying the gospel to our lives. I am grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know that it is the Lord`s church and that only through His church can we be made the men and women that He wants us to be. I have seen these things touch the lives of countless people!

I love you all and I hope you have seen a change in your lives as you have sincerely sought the Lord`s will. See you soon! ;)

Love,

Elder Cole

1. On the bus at 1 Am headed to Montevideo

2,3. We went to Aceguà today. It`s half Brazil and half Uruguay. 

Week 98

This week was a good week! It was a really weird week and to be honest I don´t have any super good stories haha! It was just a good week working in the Lord´s vineyard and helping some people come unto Christ. My companion, Elder Sarango is super great and I am really glad to be working with him! We had some little problems with some other missionaries and I was really grateful to have a companion to help me out haha!

I know that our Heavenly Father loves you. I know it because I can feel it as a pray for you.  I have really come to love a scripture in Moroni 8:3,

 "I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end."  

There are a lot of times when someone rejects us or shuts the door in our faces and it makes me sad. Not because they rejected us, but because they have chosen to postpone or deny the great blessings that their Heavenly Father has for them. I know that there are so many blessings that the Lord has reserved for us, but we do not receive them because we choose not to do what we need to in order to receive the blessing.  I have seen the loss of blessings, as a result of disobedience, in the lives of hundreds of people and I have felt it in my own life.  I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that He loves us and He is willing to help us in everything that we go through. But we must we willing to endure, survive and enjoy that which He wants us to go through. Christ suffered and died for the sins, pains, afflictions, weaknesses, sicknesses and temptations, that we will all experience. Some days I feel a little beat down, tired and pretty sick of missionary work. And then I feel Him help me, strengthen me, and love me so that I can go a little further. "For with God nothing shall be impossible." - Luke 1:37 

Love y'all! I hope you all can feel Heavenly Father´s love this week! We all need it. We are all children of God.

Love, 

Elder Cole

Week 97

This week was good! My new companion, Elder Sarango, is a really good missionary and just a great guy! We saw a lot of little miracles this week and have really felt blessed! 

This week we had the baptism of Yelsi! Yelsi is the Grandma of our Ward Mission Leader and one week she called him and told him to go pick her up and take her to church. She is a really funny lady and we have really come to love her! Over the last 4 weeks as we have taught Yelsi, we have had to yell to teach her because she is a little deaf, but last week her grandson gave her a blessing and blessed her with the ability to hear better. Yelsi is still kind of deaf, but has been able to hear, understand and enjoy more of what we are teaching. It brought a light into her life. I look forward to the day, in the next life, when I will be able to talk to Yelsi without having to yell at her haha! I look forward to really getting to know her better later in the eternities. 

Several times we taught Yelsi and asked, Michael, her grandson to come with us and help us. One night he came with his wife and their 2 small children. It was a really special experience for me to see the way that Michael lovingly talked with his grandmother and the way that his 7 year old daughter, Shazmin, also participated in the discussions. As I sat there it brought back memories from when I was younger and I would go with my dad to visit his grandmothers. It took me away from the lesson for a second as I thought about the way that my dad had spent time with his grandmothers and took me along with him too. It was truly a special moment on Saturday to see Michael baptize Yelsi. I am glad that I am able to be a part of such a great experience now that more of this family will be together in the eternities!  

Love yall!

Elder Cole

1.Yelsi´s baptism

2. A traditional Peruvian food, Arroz Chaúfa (Living with 2 Peruvians isn´t all bad haha!)

Week 96

This week was rough, but I learned a lot. My companion was super sick all week and it really took its toll on both of us. We worked hard all week and most days had very little success.  But what really changed this week was the silent confirmation of the Spirit that we were doing all we could and the Lord was doing His will, even if that meant us struggling for a while. With that small assurance we worked with determination for the rest of the week and saw several small miracles! 

Sunday night there was a HUGE storm preparing to hit Melo and we were out contacting because every plan we had had fallen through. At 8 o´clock we decided to go visit a 9 year old recent convert and his family. He lives with his mom and his 13 year old sister.  Luckily we convinced a member guy that lives in the neighborhood to come with us and we were able to visit with the family for a few minutes. That´s where we found Eliane. Eliane told us that she loves to learn about Jesus Christ, but there are so many churches she doesn´t know what to join. She said she was listening to some other missionaries a few months ago, but she was living with someone without being married and was never able to be baptized. She recently split up from her boyfriend and is looking for God.  She had come to church about 4 months ago as well and listened to General Conference with this member family. We invited Eliane to be baptized on the 4th of August and she loved the idea! Then we lost complete control because all three of the Uruguayos; Eliane, the mom of the recent convert and the member we brought, all started talking excitedly at once about her baptism! Haha! It is such a huge miracle for us and for Eliane! We are excited to see what we can do to help her prepare to be baptized!  

There were a lot of rough days this week, but I learned to rely completely on prayer and the Lord. I truly felt His help throughout the week and saw miracles as we diligently pressed forward!  

We also got changes last night and I will be staying here in Melo to finish my mission! I am super excited and I can´t wait to see what happens this change! My new companion is from Peru, his name is Elder Sarango. I met him back in Rocha when we were in the same zone.  

Love y'all!

Elder Cole

Week 95

This week was a long week! We had a lot to do and a lot happened. We started the week with a lot of good investigators that we were teaching, but by the end of Monday night four people or families had dropped us because they weren´t ready to make the changes in their lives that the Lord asks them to. The rest of the week was pretty similar. Everyday we were either dropped by or we dropped investigators who weren´t ready for baptism yet. Letting go of investigators used to be hard for me, but I have really learned that it is needed if we are going to find the people who truly are ready to come unto God. This week we are going to be doing a lot more knocking on doors and I am excited to see who the Lord has been preparing for us to find!

We had a funny experience this week! We are teaching our Ward Mission Leader´s grandma right now. Her name is Yelsi and she is a little bit of an older lady and can hardly hear. We have already taught several lessons and we have to shout at her so she can hear us. I have never had to yell to teach someone about prayer until now! This last week we taught tithing, but she was just having a hard time understanding, so I thought maybe using a visual aid would help. I showed her a 10 peso coin and yelled that if she made 100 pesos she needed to give 10 to the church. She looked at me for a second, nodded her head and then left. When she came back she tried to give me 10 pesos and said, "It´s not much, but I needed the rest for medicine. This is most of what I have."  Looking back now, I am very impressed and humbled by her willingness to pay tithing, but in the moment I felt extremely uncomfortable as an old women was trying to pay me for being a missionary! My companion and the 18 year old young man that came with us, burst out laughing! Sadly, there are a lot of churches here that exist only to get money out of people and we explained to her that we would not take her money. 

I am very thankful to be a member of the true and sure Church of Jesus Christ! We can be confident in our leaders and in the commandments we strive to keep when we truly know that it is the Church of Jesus Christ. Our testimonies of the church get challenged everyday, but mine cannot be broken. I have come to know the Lord and His church through the Book of Mormon. It is such a powerful tool in the Lord´s hands and it is the foundation of my testimony! I love the Book of Mormon! Even though some days are long and cold, it is all worth it when I can sit with someone and share the Book that has changed my life forever, and will continue to change my life forever. 

Love y'all! Hope you have a great week and are enjoying the sun, it´s pretty freezing down here haha! 

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 94

This week was a pretty normal week. We saw a ton of little miracles and met some really great people, but sadly some of the people we met this week decided that they didn`t want to follow Jesus Christ. At first it was kinda rough to just see them reject the most important message in the world, but everyone gets to choose and it just means I have more time to focus on those who want to come closer to God! 

We had a conference with President Eddy and interviews with him this week! I am super glad to be working with President Eddy here in Uruguay! I have learned so much from him and I don`t really know what kind of a missionary I would be if it wasn`t for him. The conference went well! I learned a lot. Just when I thought I was getting enough time in the mission and I knew everything I was shown there is just so much more to do! 

Uruguay played Portugal this week too and WON!!! We decided to do our studying at that time because it is almost pointless to be in the street when Uruguay is playing. It turns into a ghost town around here! Every once in a while we would hear just a rumbling noise rolling through the city and we knew that is was just a few thousand Uruguayos cheering for a goal! The whole country was pretty much partying all day after they won haha! 

This week we had a pretty neat little miracle! We have been teaching Mario, our deaf and mute investigator, for some time now and he doesn`t exactly progress very quickly so we haven`t been going by very often. But in this last lesson that we had with him, Mario prayed! Of course Mario doesn`t know how to speak, but as we kneeled together he mumbled some things and although I didn`t understand a word the Spirit was there! It was a super cool experience! I have truly come to love praying! It has helped me numberless times on my mission and I have seen it change the lives of numberless others as well! How special it is that we can each talk to Our Heavenly Father, God! The Ruler of all that is! I am glad that at this time in my life I can help others connect themselves with Him through prayer and baptism! 

Love y'all!

Elder Cole

1-2. Just sleeping easy after the Uruguay/Portugal game

3. My companion painting his nails (clear) after I convinced him that it would help him quit biting them haha!

Week 93

This week was incredible!  First things first. Uruguay beat Russia today 3-0 in the World Cup! It has been an experience of a lifetime to live in South America during the World Cup! Sometimes we are studying and then we hear gun shots and yelling like, "GOOOOOAAAAAAALLL!" or "URUGUAY NO MAAA!"  Since the USA isn`t the best at soccer I am really glad to have Uruguay as my team as well so I can root for a somewhat decent team haha! 

This week we also went to Montevideo on Friday to have a special conference with Elder Mark A Bragg from the Seventy. It was great! We almost never get to come all together as a mission and it was super cool to see all my old friends! The conference was awesome and I learned a TON from Elder Bragg! 

Then we stayed the night with the assistants while the rest of our zone went home. We worked with the assistants in their area and it was really cool to work with Elder Merino again. We worked together a little when he was in my zone there. It was great to see just how far we have come as missionaries over these last few months. I learned that after I had left Maldonado, three
people that I had found and started teaching got baptized! When I was there they were wonderful people, but just weren`t ready for the Gospel. I am super excited that they were able to eventually be baptized! 

Then on Saturday I got to go to the temple with Hugo Diaz, my convert from a year ago when I was in Treinta y Tres, as he received his endowment! It has been a year since I have seen him and it was an amazing experience! I can`t even start to describe it! Really I was overcome with emotion! I can`t help, but thank the Lord for allowing me to be His servant in this time of my life and letting me get to know and love Hugo Diaz! 

We have had a lot of ups and downs this week, but all the "ups" make the "downs" worth it! I have come to know my Savior more everyday as I see Him work in my life and the lives of those I have the privilege to serve. From these super special experiences I have had this week, I remember the scripture in D&C 18:15-16, 

"Y si acontece que trabajáis todos vuestros días proclamando el arrepentimiento a este pueblo y me traéis aun cuando fuere una sola alma, ¡cuán grande será vuestro gozo con ella en el reino de mi Padre! Y ahora, si vuestro gozo será grande con un alma que me hayáis traído al reino de mi Padre, ¡cuán grande no será vuestro gozo si me trajereis muchas almas!" 

This week I have felt the fulfillment of this scripture and I testify that some of the greatest joy I have felt and that we can ever feel comes from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I hope you all have the chance to feel the truthfulness of this scripture someday!  Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole

Part from the family email:

This week was incredible! My convert Hugo Diaz that I baptized in Treinta y Tres a year ago went to the temple this week end to get endowed and I got to go! It was one of the best experiences of my life! I got to be the first to hug him when he came through the veil. It was a wonderful experience! I got to see a ton of members from Treinta y Tres as well! It was great to see everyone!

1. Elder Barrios, Hugo and I after the temple

2. Part of my old ward in Treinta y Tres while we were at the temple 

Week 92

This week was great! We started the week heading down to Montevideo for another conference and it was probably one of the best I have had in my mission! The spirit was incredible and I learned so much! I thought I had the mission almost figured out by now, but there is always something new I am leaning! On the way home I had about 7 hours to just study and think about things and I can honestly say that I knew nothing about how to study the scriptures before the mission. Now I just get so much more out of my daily scripture study and it is amazing to me all that the Lord has been teaching me! 

This week we were in a little pueblito named Noblia. It is about an hour bus ride from Melo and we have a few investigators that we go out to teach every once in a while. We try to make our trips as fast as possible because it isn`t always just booming with missionary opportunities. This week while we were out there, we got caught in a charla for too long and ended up missing our bus home. We had about an hour to kill and nothing to do, so we decided to visit a less active guy and see how he`s doing. It turns out the Pablo (the less active guy) went to church last week and wants to bring his teenage nephews to church so they can get baptized too. So we talked to him for a while and this weekend Pablo brought his nephews to church! It was great to see the Lord do his will (visit Pablo), even when we wanted something else (catch our bus home). It ended up being a huge miracle for us and we were initially ungrateful for missing the bus. 

That was one of the things I learned in the conference with President Eddy this week. About the Lord`s will. Sometimes we are upset as things don`t go as planned, but if we trust in the Lord all will work out. As Christ suffers in the Garden of Gethsemane he asks the Father to "remove this cup from [him]", but continues by saying "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22).  In the Book of Mormon it is prophesied of, "the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father" (Mosiah 15). Christ`s will wasn`t enough, he had to rely upon the Father`s will in order to continue with the Atonement. Just like in Noblia, sometimes my will also isn`t what is needed, but as I choose to do the will of the Father, He will do great things!

Also Nirian got baptized this week and she brought her whole family! It was super special and she even started crying a little as she bore her testimony! The spirit was really strong! She has been a golden investigator that we actually found a few weeks ago when her 10 year old grandson ran up to us in the street yelling "Mormones!" And asked us for a little card of Jesus Christ. We asked him where he lived and when we went by later we found Nirian and she was super prepared! She was really clear the first time we met her that she was from another church, but we shared the Book of Mormon and left one with her to read and when we went by again she was already decided on getting baptized haha! The Lord is truly working before us! 

Love y'all! Hope all is going great at home!

Love,

Elder Cole

1. The baptism

2. The day we moved last week

Week 91

This week was super busy! And to be honest I am exhausted! We did a lot of different things this week and saw a TON of miracles, but today I will only talk about a few of the many miracles that we saw this week. 

On Tuesday in the middle of writing we got a call from the sisters and had to leave, jump in a taxi and get to their church to fix the hot water so they could fill up the font for a baptism. Then that night at 8:30 we were teaching in sign language (I´m learning... ) to our deaf investigator and we got a call from some of the other elders. They have an investigator that has been coming to church forever, knows everything and is living all of the commandments, his wife is already baptized too. But he kept telling the other elders "When I am ready I will let you know". So after a lot of praying he finally told them he wanted to be baptized. They were having a goodbye party for a missionary who was going home and he told the missionaries in secret that he wanted to be baptized then.  The thing was, he told them at 8:30 that he wanted to be baptized that night and we have to be home by 9:30! So we cut our charla short, jumped in another taxi and gave a baptismal interview! Then watched as they surprised his family and the ward with the announcement of his baptism! His wife cried. It was amazing! 

Then on Wednesday we found out that 2 other elders would be moving in with us, that day. So we spent the whole day organizing, cleaning and moving 2 houses.  We spent about 5 hours carrying things and throwing things away. It wouldn´t have been too bad, but we live on the 4th floor of an apartment complex and bed frames, desks and washing machine aren´t the lightest things! We were exhausted. 

Thursday was supposed to be a normal day, but in the morning we got a call that a younger missionary in the zone was having a hard time and wanted to go home. So we jumped on a bus at 9:30am and headed to a city about 2 hours away from Melo to go see if we could help. On the way to the bus station we got a call from a sister in the ward that has cancer. She was really distressed and said that she desperately needed a blessing. There just wasn´t time for us to go give the blessing and get on the bus. So we promised to send someone else and we got on the bus. It was probably some of the most stressful 15 minutes of my life trying to make calls and find someone to give her the blessing. Luckily we got it all figured out. We were able spend some time with the missionary that needed help and had an incredible powerful spiritual talk! All 4 of us were in tears at some point while we talked. He is doing better now. On the bus ride I realized that we had decided to leave and visit the other missionaries and although we felt inspired to do so we hadn´t asked the Lord in prayer if it was His will that we took the time to travel and spend the morning with those missionaries. So I said a quick, silent, little prayer and asked the Lord fir a confirmation. Immediatly I felt the confirmation that the Lord and the missionaries needed us on that bus headed to them. I am thankful for the little assurences the Lord has given me to guide me throughout my mission! 

Friday we had a rough day and walked most of the day, but at 8:30pm we decided to go visit an elderly lady that the bishop asked us to visit. She hasn´t come to church in a while and her son, Rodney, isn´t a member. We have talked to her son a few times in the street and he is super nice,but he drinks. A LOT! He is constantly drunk. When we knocked the door Rodney answered and said his mom was already asleep, but he offered to let us in and talk. We weren´t too enthusiastic about talking to him because we felt like it was a waste of time, but we went in anyway. As we talked he told us that he has gone 20 days without drinking and that he never wants to drink again! He says he is bored of being drunk! Haha! So we talked a little and invited him to be baptized, he accepted! It is incredible the people that the Lord is preparing! I would have never thought Rodney would quit drinking, but he is! I guess we can´t judge anyone! 

On Sunday we found a ton of cool people to teach, but the miracles of the day was at 8:30pm, when we found Lorena. We had nothing to do and our last Charla for the night fell through. We were really tempted to go home a little early because we were right in front of the apartments and it had been a long week, but we decided to go knock a few doors for the last 30 minutes. As we walked we had the distinct impression to talk to a woman sitting outside her house smoking. When we started to introduce ourselves she quickly and rudely said, "I don´t care. I don´t believe in any of that!"  We were about to just walk away and continue on, but then we asked her why and began to answer her doubts about God. By the end of the 15 minutes that we talked she had thanked us for answering her questions, accepted a Book of Mormon, said we could swing by again and encouraged us to come get her teenage son on Thursday so he could be soccer with us! Right when we were ready to walk away the Spirit touched her and us and helped her open her heart to this message! 

I know that this is the Lord´s work! I am glad that He has allowed me to play apart in His work! I come home everyday exhausted, but it is a good exhausted because I know that I held nothing back.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ has changed so many lives! I know that it has changed mine as well!

Love y'all! Sorry for such a long email...

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 90

This week was a week just full of the Spirit after Elder Holland´s visit!  We just seemed to have the Spirit so powerfully in the lessons that we taught! It was incredible! We were also guided all week to find the people that the Lord wanted us to find. We have been teaching a super great lady named Nirian lately and she is amazing! When we first met her she told us right away that she was from another church and believed in that church.... But since everyone always tells us that we just kept talking to her and gave her a Book of Mormon. She promised to read it and pray about it and then we left. For over a week we lost contact with her, but then we finally found her and she had read all the way til the end of 2 Nephi! We asked if she prayed and she said that she did and that it is true! We then explained baptism and invited her to be baptized and she said she would love to be baptized again in the true church of Christ! She then has been reading a ton and even invited everyone at church to her baptism before we could invite them! She also came up with a plan and sent us over to talk to her son and try to convert him too! Haha! She´s great!

We also found a guy named Nelson this week. We were looking for a young woman we contacted named Paulina and ended up finding an older man named Nelson. He is super poor in spirit! He just seems to sad all the time and is really going through a rough time in his life. He has been drinking his problems away and now recognizes that it doesn´t help. We said that we could help him change his life and get back on track. In the 30 minutes that we talked to him he accepted baptism, committed to stop drinking/smoking, said he would come to church, and cried 3 or 4 times. It was a very humbling charla. We found out later that he is an old friend of the bishop´s wife and when we told her we were teaching him she said, "I guess you can´t judge anyone! The Lord is preparing those we least expect!" Please Pray for Nelson so that he can put his past behind him and make the changes in his life he needs to in order to be happy. We are also teaching a guy named Mario. He is both deaf and mute so it is a challenge teaching him. He thinks God hates him and it is super sad! Please keep him in your prayers! 

Love y'all!  I know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I know that if we let the Lord, He will change us in ways we cannot imagine! I am excited to see what the Lord can do in the lives of these Uruguayos while I am here! I know He will do great things!

Love,

Elder Cole

1. The homemade dulce de leche we ate after lunch the other day

2. The "mexican" hotdog cart we found hiding in our area

Week 89

This week was incredible! We saw a lot of miracles and I really felt guided this week as we taught. We just seemed to be in the right place at the right time. I do not believe in coincidences anymore. Everything that happens is divinely caused! 

Yesterday we had the chance to learn from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was amazing! Everything I was hoping would happen, happened and more! Before he started speaking Elder Holland took the time to shake the hand and talk to each of the 350 missionaries! You can just feel his love for each of us as we shook his hand! The light in his eye was evidence of his apostolic calling.

Elder Holland was very passionate about the message he shared with us. He said that the mission needs to change us... FOREVER! (*pounds pulpit with his hand). As he spoke I really felt the full force of his words in my heart. I cannot be the same person after the mission as who I was before the mission. He said, "You will go home, but you can never go back!" So I have started a list of things that I will have to let go of or start doing better when I get home. On the mission I have learned that being more spiritual and doing things as God wants and not as I want is, in fact, the better way. Just as the mission has been a place for me to progress and better myself, life on this earth is for the progression and betterment of each of us. We as members of the church can never go back. As members of the church we have started on the "strait and narrow path" and can never go back to who we were last week. Who we were before renewing our covenants with the Sacrament.

As I prepared to learn from Elder Holland´s visit to Uruguay I studied several of his talks that he has given over the years. One talk really caught my attention because recently there have been less and less missionaries coming into our mission and we have heard that the amount of worldwide missionaries is dropping as well. In his talk he says,

"Friends, we need tens of thousands of more missionaries in the months and years that lie ahead... Surely that is why Jesus’s final charge to the Twelve was just that basic—to ´go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.´ Then, and only then, can the rest of the blessings of the gospel fully come—family solidarity, youth programs, priesthood promises, and ordinances flowing right up to the temple... With all that there is to do along the path to eternal life, we need a lot more missionaries opening that gate and helping people through it." 

I am glad that in my own little way I can be helping in this work! I have seen lives changed, families strengthened and an increase of love come by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I wish everyone could feel this way and have these experiences. I know everyone can! I try not to think about coming home too often, but I do realize that I will be home soon. I hope and pray that one of the changes I continue to make after the mission is that of sharing the Gospel. I know every missionary says that (haha) and I know it won´t be super easy, but I sincerely hope that I have made enough of a change in my life now, so I can continue making changes in my life into the future. 

Love you all! I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ! I know that Jeffrey R. Holland is an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ! They both love us! The Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. He is the head of this church. I have never been so sure of anything in my life! And I am privileged to share these things with the people of Melo at this time.

Love,

Elder Cole

Part of the family email:

This week not only did I get to meet and learn from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, but I also got to work with his grandson who is currently a missionary here in Uruguay! He is a great guy and super humble. It was awesome to work with Elder Holland, the grandson of THE Elder Holland. Love ya!

Week 88

Jaycie here: we got an email from a seventy that visited Trace's stake conference and met with a few of the missionaries. I will attach the email and photo Elder Mark Bragg sent us. It made our day!

Dear Cole Family,

I was on assignment in the Melo Stake this weekend and met your wonderful son.  He is a terrific leader and is a blessing to the mission and his mission president!  He is in a wonderful stake in a beautiful part of Uruguay.  

You son is happy, healthy and working very hard.   He has a terrific companion and that are doing great work!

Thank you for preparing such a sweet young man to serve Lord in this part of His Vineyard!

Elder Mark A. Bragg

Presidencia de Área

Área Sudámerica Sur

Back to trace's email :) 
Wow! A lot happened this week! This week I worked with 4 different companions and just saw a ton of little miracles!  The cold has also definitely set in here in Melo. It is freezing some nights in the rain, but that´s when the miracles come! 

Yesterday was stake conference in Melo and we were lucky enough to have Mark A. Bragg from the Seventy come and speak to us! It was great! We also got to hear President Eddy and Hermana Eddy talk as well! The whole conference was just super spiritually powerful and I learned a ton! Elder Bragg talked about the different stages that the church has gone through over the years. One thing that he mentioned was that after starting the Sunday School, Seminary and Institute programs the members now know so much about the Gospel that we need to start sharing it.  We are so privileged to know so much about the Gospel that we need to start sharing that knowledge with others! He also said that as we share the Gospel our love for others will grow! Elder Bragg took a little bit of time to talk to all the missionaries after the conference and gave us some great advice and assigned us some homework to do before the next time we see him. 

It was super great to see and hear from both Elder Bragg and President Eddy and next week Elder Jeffery R. Holland will be visiting Uruguay and talking to all the missionaries here! I am super excited to see all that we can learn from these 2 weeks of pure revelation!  I have felt the Lord guiding me every step of the way this week. Whether it was hearing the speakers in stake conference, blessing an investigator or helping other missionaries in their work, I know that the Lord heard and responded to each of my prayers! My relationship with my Heavenly Father has grown unbelievably through prayer over these last 20 months! I wouldn´t trade this mission for the world! I love it! And I love the Lord!

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

Love,

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

Hey Ma! Today we were supposed to travel to the border of Brazil, but my companion got super sick and so we stayed home today and rested. My companion is doing good though, he`s feeling better. Haha! 

Juan is doing alright... He didn´t like church last week and hasn´t really been straight forward about why... He didn´t come to church this Sunday. But we visited him last night and talked about it. 

We are also teaching Nirian, she´s super cool and is super ready to get baptized! 

We are teaching Mario. He is deaf and mute so it is almost impossible to communicate with him, but we are working on it and he is married to a faithful member and he has been coming to church every week for the last 7 years! We are trying to get him baptized by the 9th of June, but its gonna be hard!  

This week we taught the youth how to give a Book of Mormon away to their friends and even made them practice with each other and then told them they had 24 hours to give away the book and that we would meet back up at the church in 24 hours to see how it went. It was fun!

 Next week Jeffery R Holland will be coming to talk to the missionaries here in Uruguay and so I will be writing on Tuesday! It should be awesome!!! We´re pumped! 

Picture Sent by Elder Mark Bragg

Week 87

This week a lot happened! First of all I got to talk to my family yesterday so that was great! I t`s always kinda hard to think about what I am going to say because I don`t think about it at all before hand and then in the moment I freeze, but it was great! It was also my last one as a missionary and the next time I see everyone it will be when I go home haha! 

Last week we found a guy named Juan who has been going through a tough time in his life. He has been fighting with everyone in his life, his family, his boss, his girlfriend and has attempted suicide.  On Wednesday we had the chance to swing by Juan`s house and talk to him. Juan lives in a super little house. His whole house is 4 cinder blocks wide and 5 cinder blocks long and I have to hunch over to stand inside, but Juan is super cool! He really opened up to us and wants to repent for all he has done. He even asked us to help him quit smoking before we offered to help him. On Sunday Juan came to church. He lives about 30 minutes from the church and we offered to swing by and pick him up. As we knocked on his door Juan didn`t answer. We knocked and knocked. We tried yelling and clapping, but after waiting for about 15 minutes he didn`t answer. So we just opened his door and walked in haha! Luckily Juan was cool with it and didn`t mind being woken up like that! 

This week we also had a conference in Trienta y Tres, one of my old areas! We weren`t allowed to go see anyone, but it was just nice to see the place were I used to work! I learned a lot from President Eddy and the other missionaries! It was also great to see some old friends! On Friday I worked with an elder from Peru and we saw some great little miracles! We ended up finding a super cool family at the end of the night and I have no doubt that it was the Lord guiding us to them! We actually knocked their door because I got a little lost haha! The Gonzalez family has their problems, but really I have the faith that as we trust in the Lord, He will help them make the changes in their lives that they need to make to be baptized! 

Today we went to a laced called Río Branco. It is a border town between Uruguay and Brazil. We got to go buy a lot of cheap stuff/food and got to spend the day exploring! It was great! 

This week was a long one and had plenty of ups and downs, but I think one of the things that I have been learning lately is not to work towards the outcomes I want, but the outcomes the Lord wants. Sometimes I get frustrated when we aren`t quite able to talk to all the people we want to talk to or when people don`t complete with their word, but this week I have thought a lot about how as long as I work my hardest and have faith then the Lord will do His will. The work I am doing right now is not my work, but the Lord`s and I need to give Him control of it all. I have made a lot of changes in my mindset lately. I know that as I pray and have a conversation with my Heavenly Father then He will direct me and do His work through me. 

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

Elder Cole