Week 49

This week was a great one! Maldonado is waaaaaaayyyyyyy different than Treinta y Tres! Our area is really small and there are a ton of people! I am excited to see what we can do to find people that really want to listen to us.... we get rejected a lot here haha! It is alright!  Elder Lockhart is a great companion and we work well together. It has been a ton of work here, but I know we will be blessed for the effort and faith that we have! I am excited to keep working here and getting to know the people! I don´t have too much to say because I was just trying to remember where I was all week haha! Love y'all!

 

Love,

Elder Cole

 

Parts from the family email:

 

Hey Ma! Sounds like fair went well! That is so cool that you all had so much to do at the camper! Tell  Hallie that that is awesome that she got reserve grand champion for her sewing! With all the sewing I am doing with my clothes, I might be almost as good as her! Haha!

 

I am sure glad that I came on the mission! I wouldn't trade this experience for anything! The area is good, small. It is pretty rainy and colder than Treinta y Tres, but it isn´t too bad. My companion has been here three months already. He´s cool.

 

The area is kinda a tough area and so I am really excited and determined to see progress. No the Doritos were fine. My umbrella is doing well. Yeah there was 20 new missionaries this change and President has been doing a ton. I have heard that sometimes after changes the assistants fall asleep at their desks because it just kills them. 

 

This week was good! Elder Lockhart works really hard and we are trying to do all we can to see some progress in our area! There have been a few baptisms here in the last few weeks, but right now the area is kinda dead... We are looking to change that! Being a Zone Leader is´nt too much more work, but I still need to get the hang of it haha! Maldonado is super cool, but everyone here is too busy to talk to us and they are pretty well off so they don´t think they need the gospel. I guess we just need to find the right people. 

 

Love yall!

 

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 48

This week was super cool! We had the chance to work with one of our Zone Leaders almost everyday because his companion ended his mission and left a few days early so he would make it home in time to study. It was cool to learn from another missionary that is finishing up his mission and knows just about as much as we can about the mission work!  

This week we also had changes and I was pretty sure that I was leaving. Last night we found out that I will be headed to a city called Maldonado! It seems like a super cool place and it is about as modern as it gets here in Uruguay so it will be a big change from here in Treinta y Tres haha! I will be companions with Elder Lockheart... but I don`t remember where he is from, but he`s American haha! I am super excited to get to know more of Uruguay and I look forward to finding the people that the Lord has prepared for me to find! 

Not much happened this week, but I had moments when I was just amazed at this opportunity to serve a mission and preach the Gospel of Jesus Cristo! I really love it here and I can`t believe that it has been 11 months already! It kind of blows my mind how fast the time has gone! Hope all is well with you guys! I love ya`ll! You are always in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

Hey Ma! I won`t have a return date until I have about 16 months in the mission and at about 18 months they buy my plane tickets and have my fight plans, but they don`t send them to me, they will send them to your email. 

Haha! I hope you get that car running! The paint looks good. 

Sounds like loading pigs was like it is every year haha! I don`t really miss loading pigs and running around yelling at each other hahah! But I will miss fair a little. Let me know how it all goes! Glad that all the pigs ended up working out haha! 

I got my box, don`t worry.... It was just a pain because the Doritos exploded inside and everything was covered in cheese dust! Hahaha! But it all washed out! 

That's cool about Kammie`s baby! I am going to meet a ton of new little people when I get home in a year! 

This week was good! I was almost 100% certain that I was leaving Treinta y Tres this change because I have been here a while. I am being sent to Maldonado as a Zone Leader. It is the most modern part in Uruguay and everyone says that it is super great! I am really excited! From everything I have heard it sounds like a super cool place, but kinda hard to get baptisms.... we`ll see. I am really pumped to go there! My companion is Elder Lockheart. He is from California I think... I don`t know much about him.... I have really loved it here, but I am ready to leave Treinta y Tres and meet new people! 

Love ya Ma and Pa! This week was great and I really love the mission! Love y'all!

Week 47

No Group email this week...but I will add a picture  I stole from another missionary's blog and add a little from the family email. The last paragraph is the best because before his mission, Trace would do any housework willingly except dishes. He is slightly a germaphobe and he would literally tear up while doing dishes because he was so grossed out by other people's food. Here is his email:

That's really sad about Debby.... Hope she at least feels at peace these last few days.... let her know I love her! That`s crazy that Canada is doing so bad! Usually we just here about the fires in Washington, California, and Colorado. 

Sounds rough to have pigs this year.... You will have to send me pictures because this will be the first time in about 7 years that I haven`t been at the Grant County fair! Haha! You should charge people to come to our camper because with the air hockey table it is like a fair game now! ;) Brenton should bring his projector and show movies on the side of the trailers too! 

I hope dad and Brenton get the car running! I miss racing sometimes.... all the other missionaries think I am super redneck and crazy when I talk about racing hahah! 

My comp is great! We are doing well together. 

Yeah I couldn`t really think really straight when I saw Mariah because I was kinda dumb struck that we ran into each other in a city of 1.5 million people! Haha! 

That`s awesome that I have a new cousin! There will be so many new family members when I get home haha! 

This week was great! We worked hard and the days are flying by! I can`t believe that I am going to hit 11 months here in a couple days! I really love it here! The week was pretty normal but we had a lot of success and things are really looking up here! 

Today I had to cut my hair because it was getting too long and we ended up finding a barber shop that is run by two gay guys from the Netherlands. They speak worse Spanish than I do! But they cut my hair pretty well and we were able to talk a little about the church, so we will send the other missionaries to them! 

We are really seeing a lot of miracles happening here and I can`t explain the miracles because they are super small and almost seem normal, but then I think about my day at night and I realize just how much the Lord is doing in my life! 

Last night some other missionaries came over and slept at our house and we cooked and ate something. This morning when they left we had a ton of dishes to wash and I washed. every. single. one. By hand! Because we don`t have a dishwasher! I realized then just how far I have come in the last 10.5 months hahah! Love yall! Hope all is well at home! 

Love,

Elder Cole

Photo credit to Elder Vanderlinden :) 

They were to find a piece of gum out a pile of flour and see who could blow the first bubble.

Week 46 - Happy Birthday Trace!!!

This week was great! We had a lot of miracles that just kind of seemed to fall in our way this week! We also had two activities that we helped organize and got the chance to meet some really great people! 

Last Monday when we were in Montevideo we just happened to go to Subway for lunch and when we were waiting in line, I noticed that some sister missionaries walked in and one of them just happened to be Mariah Byington! It was super cool and weird to see an old friend in the mission halfway around the world! 

Then this Sunday we got asked to teach a primary class the last hour, hahahahahaha! It was like herding cats! But it went well... I think.

Also this week my shoes really took a beating and just started falling apart, but I told myself that they would hold together for a few more weeks and that we didn`t have time to look for and buy new ones right now.... So for a few days that`s how it was and I actually didn`t have really any plans to start looking for new shoes. One night we were talking with our recent convert  and at the end of the visit he asked what size of shoe we wear. And it just so happened that he had some new dress shoes that were a size too big for him, but were my size and he gave them to me for free! It was super great, because I really didn`t want to take the time to look for a store in little Treinta y Tres to buy new shoes and now I don`t have to! It reminds me of a scripture: Mathew 6:28-33! I have felt the Lord work miracles in my life this week!  And I know that He works miracles in each of our lives every day! Love y'all! 

Love,

Elder Cole

Jaycie here...Trace's good friend Mariah Byington from Moses Lake was called to serve in the other Uruguay mission. They happened to run into each other in the big city Montevideo which has 1.4 million people there. Trace was there last week for some paper work his companion had to do. I love her take on it and wanted to share...I hope she doesn't mind...

"So to start out this crazy week, right after I walked out of the cyber where we write our emails each week, we walked over to subway to eat lunch. As we walked into subway we saw a few elders standing in line waiting to order, one of them happened to be Trace Cole!! It was so crazy that we`re both here serving in Uruguay 6'000 miles away from Moses Lake, Washington but we found each other in a Subway!! It was super fun to see each other and to only be talking in Spanish! Crazy to see how far we`ve come from sitting next to each other in our Spanish classes at Big Bend CC but not being able to actually speak Spanish. To now where we can hardly talk in English sometimes! The world is so small, and missionary work is so rewarding!"

Week 45

This week was good! We worked really hard, and I am happy with all that we did this week! Right now we are in Montevideo because my companion has to sign some legal papers and it is super cool to have a free day to just get to know Montevideo a little bit!

This last Sunday it was pretty cold and raining, so we knew that not very many people were going to come to church. And just before church started the bishop says to me, "Elder Cole, we don`t have anyone to give talks today because everyone that was supposed to talk didn`t show up. Would you give a talk for us?" I can`t say that it was the best talk that I have ever given, but it wasn`t too bad for my first talk on the spot and in Spanish! Haha! 

 

In church this week too, they asked the man that we baptized a couple of weeks ago to share his testimony because he went to the temple for the first time and was baptized for his father.  It was so great as a missionary to see how much his faith has grown since the first day that we met him. As he spoke about his feelings in the temple he even started to cry a little bit. I am so glad that he had the opportunity to come to know this Gospel for himself, and I am glad that he was also able to share the cleansing power of baptism with his own father. I know that this is God`s work. I know that in the temples we can feel closer to God and those that we love, even if they have passed away. It is an honor for me to be here in Uruguay, to get to know these people, to learn to love these people, and to share the joys and hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Love y'all! Hope all is well at home! Praying for ya! Enjoy the warm weather because we are starting to freeze here haha!

 

Love,

Elder Cole

 

 

Parts from the family email:

 

This week was pretty normal. We  are just working super hard and doing all that we can do. We had interviews with President Eddy this week and it  was great to talk to him one on one.

 

We are in Montevideo right now because my companion has to sign some legal papers so we traveled last night and slept with some other elders here. It was great because one is Elder Fix that came to Uruguay with me and was in Mexico with me and another elder was Elder Ucañan who was my companion a few months ago! I haven`t seen those guys in awhile!

 

We are also organizing an activity with another ward and so I will let you know how that goes this next week. All is well here! Love y'all! 

Elder Cole

 

 

Week 44

This week was good! I am really tired after this week, but it is a good tired haha! I got told this week that I look like I am 30! When people ask us how old we are, we always tell them to guess. Most of the time I get like 24 around there, but this time someone said 30! I hope it is just cause I have a tie so it makes me look older haha! 

We had an interesting experience this week... We swung by for an investigator that we have been working with these last few weeks for an appointment that we had set up. When we showed up to his house we found him getting another tattoo on his arm. The funny part was that his 14 year old little sister was giving it to him while she was smoking some kind of drug and drinking mate! We tried sticking around for a few minutes to see if we could teach a little, but we ended up leaving because the Spirit just wasn`t there in that moment. That is the great thing about the mission, I never know what I am going to find when we walk into a house! 

I really love this place and the people here, sometimes they are crazy, but it keeps life interesting haha! Hope all is well! Love y'all!

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

I already have like four friends that will be married before I even hit a year in the mission! Tell Brooklyn that she isn`t allowed to get married until I come home haha! 

The weather lately has been cold! It has a good cold wind too, but we are surviving alright haha!  

This week has been alright. It was a good week and we worked really hard. We got home almost every night at the latest possible time. I am super tired. I really like feeling physically tired and even mentally tired because it is satisfying to feel like we have been working, but this week I feel kinda emotionally tired. I am just kind of sick of people lying to me and we just put a ton of work in and don`t see results (I guess nothing describes missionary work better than that haha!) 

But we are doing good! I enjoy every second and the days are flying by! I have had experiences here that I will never have again. And not just experiences of Uruguay, but spiritual experiences and really I can`t describe, but I will always remember. 

I will let you know when I get the package.... Can you send me the recipe for Potato soup again i lost it haha. I am also going to have to buy new shoes pretty soon because my Doc Martins are almost worn through and the soles are starting to separate from the shoe haha! I will send pictures next week.

Love y'all

Elder Cole

Week 43

This week was pretty great! We had some good success, and we are really seeing little miracles here in Treinta y Tres! This email is going to be short because I left my agenda, that helps me remember what happened this week, at home and I don`t remember much. But I really saw the Lord working in our area this week! 

 

We have an investigator that has been receiving the missionaries for about 11 years and he wants to be baptized, but he has some things that he needs to set straight in his life before he can take that step and be baptized in the church of Christ. We have been working with him since I first got here in Treinta y Tres, and he hasn`t been progressing very well. But this week he passed us in the street and he came back to share with us that he hasn`t smoked a single cigarette in 24 hours! It was great news and we were super excited for him. Then we went by his house two nights later to talk and he told us that he hasn`t smoked a cigarette in over three days! This is a guy that was smoking 30-40 cigarettes everyday and now he isn`t smoking at all! We also found out that two members of the church have passed by his house in this last week and have encouraged him! I don`t know how, but the Lord has sent several people this week to this investigator's home to help him break his addiction to cigarettes!

 

I am just super grateful for the blessings that we have in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that the Lord will always send us the help we need to overcome life's challenges and come to Him!  

Love yall! Hope all is well at home! 

Love,

Elder Cole

 

 

Parts from the family email:

 

Hey Ma, The investigators are doing well. If you can pray for Juan, Enzo, Fabiana, Davis, Mauro, and Sabrina that would be great! It is all good here. We are working hard and doing some good things, just counting down the days every week til the next P-day haha, because by Sunday I am just super worn out! 

 

We just run around all the time doing different things and it's great because we are always busy. This week was normal... We did end up with two investigators in church so that was super cool and we are looking forward to some baptisms in the next couple weeks!

 

Not much happened this week.  But I love y'all! I am always praying for ya! I am super shocked at how big Madison is now! Love ya!

Love,

Elder Cole

 

 

 

Haha I taught my district what s`mores are!