Week 35

This week was pretty normal.... I hit eight months in the mission a few days ago... I did get to talk to my family yesterday, so that was really great! It is probably the fastest 40 minutes of my whole mission haha!

Other than that not much happened this week.... A really big dog bit my companion on the butt! It was a super crazy dog, and I just happened to luck out enough that it went for him!

We have also started playing soccer with the Uruguayans a couple times a week, so that we get to know people and have the chance to build relations with the people here. I have realized that I am awful at soccer hahah! I actually hang in there better than I thought I would with these guys! Soccer is just the way of life here, everyone plays!

 

We did have a conference with President Eddy this week! It was really great and it really helps me feel more excited for the mission work every time we get to have him teach us! He showed us some of the changes that have happened in the last nine months since he has been here, and it is incredible the changes in the mission we have seen! It was also a great opportunity for me to think about the missionary that I have become of the last eight months! I have come a loooooonng way, haha! But I hope that I can keep growing and becoming better, both as a missionary and as a person in general!

 

The mission is a great experience, and I am enjoying it as much as I can! Love y'all! Sorry I don´t have some great story from this week. Hope all is well at home and that you are enjoying the sunshine! 

 

Love,

Elder Cole

 

 

The few are of a river that is behind the bishop's house. Then there are some pictures of me and another Elder on top of some old brick ruins... It doesn`t look like it, but they were like 10 feet tall and I had to set the camera timer and run and climb before the picture took hahaha

 

 

 

 

Week 34

Hey guys, sorry I didn`t email last week, I ran out of time! This week was good! I had the chance to get to know a few of the members here better and we even taught them to make pancakes! It was great, because here the people eat things that just lack flavor and they loved pancakes!

It was also my companion`s birthday, and so we had to celebrate some how.... We finally decided that we were going to cook and eat steaks and mashed potatoes! It actually turned out really well, and it will probably be the only time I ever eat a steak in this country, we had to get a specialized cut of meat because they don`t cut meat like steaks here. 

 

I also found out some great news a couple of weeks ago! I have been keeping in touch with my last companion in my last area just to see how everyone was doing, and he told me that one of the guys I had met and taught for the last 4 months was going to be baptized!!! Of course I couldn`t go and be there, because I am just too far away right now, but it was such great news to hear that he made the decision to be baptized!

 

It is just such an honor to be here and to teach the Gospel! I am so glad that for these next two years, the Lord can use me to help other people change their lives and feel the power of the Gospel! 

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

Love,

Elder Cole

 

 

 

A little from the family email:
 

Hey Ma! We have been working with a few different people, but more or less we have just been trying to find people to teach... only now are we starting to teach most of the day. Yeah, the lady that sent the video is the bishop's daughter and her family. We are going to Skype this week from their house.

It is going to be so weird to see all the family after the mission cause I am sure all the little cousins will be way grown up! We only have one hour to email ya, and I try to write everyone I can even if it is only a little. 

Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole

 

 

 

Week 33

No group email this week so here is a little from the family email:

We taught that family again this week and it went really well, but we didn´t get a chance to talk to the guy that lives far away again.  P days we usually play soccer with other missionaries, but today we just deep cleaned our house.

The area looks more or less like home when you are in the middle of nowhere... like just kinda sage brush and dry grass.

It is getting cold, but the sleeping bag I have keeps me warm for right now at least.

The food is the same and the language.... sometimes we run into someone from Brazil that only speaks Portuguese. But it sounds similar to Spanish, so I can kinda understand some of it haha!

 

If we can Skype at like 1:00 your time on Mother´s day that would be best because that means it would be like 6:00 here and so we can´t go too much later... This week was good! We had some really good days and some kinda long days, but overall it went well! I will just write about it in my group email. Love y'all!

 

Love,

Elder Cole

 

Week 32

This week was super tough. We did a lot of walking all week and met a lot of closed doors. On Friday we had a lesson with one of our best investigators, and he told us that he is thinking about stopping the lessons. He is older and he can´t remember anything... He just feels bad cause he feels like he is wasting our time, and we tried to explain that it isn´t like that but he didn´t accept our arguments... My heart was kinda in my stomach.  I felt impressed to say a prayer right then, and that he should say it. After a few minutes we convinced him to say it. It was a good prayer and the whole time he prayed I just plead with the Lord to help him feel the spirit and to continue learning about the Gospel. After the prayer I felt the Spirit one of the most powerful times in my life.  I started to testify and promise blessings that come through the Gospel without even thinking about it.  I don´t think that in the seven months that I have been a missionary, that I have felt that much power and authority as I did in those few moments. I will never forget the feelings that I had as I testified of the things that I know to be true.  We told him that we were going to leave him to just think and pray about his decision and that we would see him at church on Sunday, because he really likes coming to church.... he was not at church yesterday... We are not really sure what is going to happen, but we aren´t giving up on him, that´s for sure! 

We also saw a little miracle yesterday. This week had been rough and yesterday wasn´t different. We walked all day until about 7:30 at night. We ended up swinging by a family. We had passed by for them earlier in the day, but they weren´t there. This time we had the chance to go in their house and talk a little bit. The dad is an inactive member and the rest of the family aren´t members. We also ended up finding four of their family members visiting them! So we ended up teaching a ton of people! And it was a super great talk! They were super interested, and when we tried to set up another time to pass by, one of their family members shouted that we had to do it next Saturday because he wanted to be there, and he lives a few hundred kilometers away and will visit next Saturday! I don´t think I have ever seen someone say that they wanted to listen to us with that much enthusiasm! We left that lesson feeling really great! Haha! But what makes it really incredible is that we were fasting that day. And we were really starting to feel discouraged. On our way to that house I just said a quick prayer in my head asking God for help, because I just felt defeated and I needed something to keep me going.  And God answered my prayer! In the very last hour of one of my toughest weeks, mission work wise, God blessed us with not only the chance to teach this family, but at least two others who are really interested in the church! 

This week was rough, but it ended up super great and I have so much more of a testimony of prayer and that God hears and answers each and everyone of our prayers! Love y'all! 

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 31

This week was the Holy Week... and actually it was super hard to do missionary work, because everyone was on vacation haha! But it was still a great week, and we really got to celebrate the  resurrection of Jesus Christ!

On Wednesday I had a six hour bus ride to get to my new area, but I made it!  The area is pretty close to Brazil and some people here speak Portuguese too. My new area is really relaxed and the people are a little more friendly. The area has had some bad luck these last few months, and so we are kind of starting over with the mission work here. We have walked a lot these last three days! But we are really seeing the area progress, and I am excited to see in what way the Lord will use me to bless these people and our ward. I am in the biggest city in the department of Treinta y Tres, but it is still a pretty chill city and there is a lot of space. I have met a ton of new people already here, and I am looking forward to knowing more!

We shared a lot about Easter this last week with everyone that would let us talk to them. It is so incredible that Christ gave His life for us. It wasn´t taken from Him, but he freely gave it so that we could progress in this life. I am just really grateful for His love and mercy for me. It is kind of difficult to think that for my mistakes He suffered and died. And then I remember why we celebrate Easter. Christ didn´t just suffer and die for us, but He rose from the dead and He lives again. It is so great that as a missionary, I can share this message with others - that Christ lives and love them, and that like Him we, each of us, will live again!  I love Easter a lot more now that I am on the mission and can really understand and testify of the importance of that day! 

Love yall! Hope all is well! I am loving it here! Stay safe, all the Uruguayans think World War III is coming! Haha!

 

Love,

Elder Cole

 

 

Parts from the family email:

 

Thanks Ma! You can accept all those people on Facebook. I am feeling better now, and I was ok during the trip.

 

I am in the main city of 33 and it is pretty nice. My towns name is Treinta y Tres... 

 It is waaaaaayyyyyy different here than in Las Piedras! It is way more relaxed, and there aren´t so many people.

 

My comp is cool and we get along well!

 

My stalker...(Trace had a stalker but we won't get into that on the blog...hit me up for more details haha)  

 

That´s so funny that dad is in the bishopric! Thanks for the mission call updates. That´s crazy that Conrad got married! I forgot about that! That´s awesome!

 

Easter here was good, but it felt kinda like a normal day, we worked like usual. But it was good. They don´t do the whole eggs and Easter bunny stuff here.

 

This week was good. There hasn´t been a whole lot of work done in our area for a while.... the last baptism was over a year ago. But we are really starting to see some progress, and I hope that I can be an instrument to help jump start the ward again. Elder Andersen seems excited to finally get some work done. I realize now how blessed I was with such a great area before, but I am looking forward to applying what I learned in Las Piedras, here. We have done a lot of walking and finding these last few days. The people are super nice here and we have a good ward, it is small only like 30 people show up, but I think we can help with that! Haha! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 30

Sorry I didn`t write last week. We went to the temple as a zone and I didn`t have time. But the temple was super great and it was just so awesome to be there!

This week was great! We had the chance to go into Montevideo a few times this week, because my companion had doctor appointments. So we got to be in the other mission for a little while to get it all worked out, and we ended up passing right by these cool letters that are on the beach and spell out Montevideo! Then we kinda got lost in the biggest city in Uruguay... Haha!  

This was also my last week in Las Piedras. I found out yesterday that I will be transferred to a part of Uruguay called "33". It sounds like it is going to be a little more of a rural area than the one I have now, but I am super excited to get to know more of Uruguay! I have really loved it here in Las Piedras and have made so many friends! I will kinda miss it, but I am also really looking forward to meeting new people and having even more experiences! Sometimes it kinda blows my mind that I am living in Uruguay preaching the gospel! This is truly an experience of  a lifetime and there is no other reason I would want to be here other than to help people come unto Christ! 

Hope all is well at home! Love ya`ll! 

Love,

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

Whoa that´s crazy dad has a new calling! Was it kinda a surprise on Sunday? Alright I´ll send you pics of the house, but just a heads up, Mariah´s house is waaaaaaaayyyyyyy nicer than ours!

That's too bad about the pigs! Hope everything works out! Thanks for the updates on my friends on missions! Glad Grandma Cox is doing better! Hope the ACT went well for Brook!  

This week was good. I said lots of goodbyes and bore my testimony on Sunday. We went to Montevideo a few times this week cause my comp had to get a toenail cut out and so I got to see a lot of the other mission.

Hey I heard the US fired a chemical missile into Syria... what`s going on? Can you send me more Hydrocortizone cream and a normal cheap plastic jump rope in my next package? No rush.

I am also really sick right now... both me and my comp have it coming out both ends.... we think its food poisoning haha! 

I will now be transferred to a part of Uruguay called "33". I will be with an elder named elder Anderson from Arizona. I will be headed over there tomorrow. It sounds super different than here, because it is more rural, but I am excited! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 29

Trace only emailed a few people this week due to limited time, so here are parts from the family email:

Conference was super great and I understood a lot actually. I really enjoyed a lot of the talks this time! 

Mostly my companions eat cereal - I´m cheap and it's expensive haha! But we eat well,  don´t worry! I´m a missionary so I am always exhausted, but I´m alright... I am surviving haha! That's great all the news about the kids! 

I am excited to get a new area! I will miss the people here, but I feel like I am needed else where now. 

Don´t have a lot of time to write today so, I´ll just give you an update of everything next week. We went to the temple today so now we are kinda pressed for time, but it was an awesome experience and I actually learned a lot even in Spanish! I also read my Patriarchal Blessing in the Celestial room so that was super great! Don't worry about me! I'm doing great! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole