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