Week 76

This week was a rough one. We had a lot to do and just didn´t have enough time to do it. One of the glimmers of light we saw this week was when we were able to go to  the baptism of Carla! The missionaries have been teaching her for over three years! It was incredible to be one of the missionaries here to teach her right now. Just to watch her progress from the day that I showed up in Rocha and started teaching her, until now is a huge testimony that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives! She is So happy and was so excited for her baptism! I could feel the confirmation that her baptism was a special one and although it took countless missionaries and over three years, she was finally a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and has taken that first step to live with our Father in Heaven again! 

This week I also learned some helpful life skills! Here in Rocha there are not very many members of the church, and so I have had to really develop my cooking skills quickly haha! It has gone well so far! It definitely isn´t like my mom´s cooking, but it hasn´t killed me yet haha! We have also been fighting some kind of bug in the house. We just feel things biting us all the time and everyday we find new bug bites... At first we thought it was bed bugs. So I washed all my bedding and sprayed poison all over.... Now we think its fleas. So we have been spaying poison on everything we own. We actually don´t know what is going on, but something has been eating us alive this week. 

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

Elder Cole

Parts from the family email:

This week was good ma! ....Actually it was a terrible week hahaha! We got rejected an unusual amount of times this week. Usually we get rejected quite a bit, but this week EVERYONE rejected us.  Even some of our better investigators just started avoiding us and stopped answering their phones.  Its fine, I learned some things and it just showed me some of my weaknesses. Overall I am doing well, I feel good, just didn´t quite have the success we expected.

I really understand now when you and dad would get upset with the messy house or a lot of dirty dishes! I have been having the same thoughts go through my mind that I used to hear from you guys! Only these aren´t my kids, just three other 20 year old men that have to wait for me to clean up for them! Hahaha! Love ya Ma!

Week 75

This week was a great one! We worked really hard and saw the Lord bless us! It was an incredible feeling to be used by the Lord to help other people this week! After a day of knocking doors and stopping lots of people in the streets, we found a nice little old man named Artigas, whose wife passed away just three months ago. He has taken it really hard and has lived feeling a little lost these last three months. We were able to share with him the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help him understand that as he lives the commandments, the Lord will bless him with comfort now and an eternity with his wife later. I am really excited for him to continue growing closer to our Heavenly Father! 

We also met, this week, a very humble woman named Mariana and she has great desires to follow Christ. She is looking for the strength and direction she needs to make some life changes and be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ. Mariana has a homosexual orientation, but has felt the Spirit touch her life and is now searching for the help she needs to follow Christ and keep all of His commandments. As we spoke to her and got to know her, I felt a deep love for her, that I am sure was the Lord allowing me to feel, just a small part of what He feels for her. Mariana has lived a tough life, but I know that the Lord has just been waiting for her to seek the way to follow Him. I have no doubt that the Lord will be by her side through all she needs to be baptized. 

This week was a week that was truly incredible! I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that He suffered and died for me, for you, for each one of us and that as we do all we can to follow Him, He will make our efforts greater than they are. I could not do this work without His constant support. I know that He will make us greater tomorrow, than we are today, if we allow Him to take a part in our lives. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful week. I will be praying for you, I always am. 

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 74

This week was definitely better than the last one haha! We really saw a lot of little miracles this week, and we learned that some of the "bad" things that we have been going through were actually hidden blessings, we just didn`t understand why until now! We also spent a lot of time in meetings this last week and it was good, but nothing beats just hitting the streets and working! We worked extra hard with the time we did have and felt the Lord bless us! 

One of the blessings came because we were able to really go by the Spirit! We had some extra time, so we decided to try knocking some doors in a neighborhood we hadn`t entered before. At first we were just rejected several times, but after a while we felt the impression to knock one more house before we went to a scheduled lesson (which we were already running late for). We ended up finding a lady that had just gone through some kind of cancer treatment and we really sick. It wasn`t the best lesson ever, but we were at the right place at the right time, just when the Lord needed us to! It was great to talk to her and share this message of hope and strength, even in the most difficult of situations! 

We also helped an older guy in our branch clip the wings of his ducks. It was fun! We had to run around and grab the ducks and then he would clip the wings. It was great during it all, but when we finished, we realized we were covered in poop and duck blood haha! It was not a very pleasant smell... 

We also cooked an Uruguayo BBQ on a grate over a bon-fire!  A nice lady from the branch invited us over for lunch and then put us in change of the fire. It was our first time cooking that way, but it turned out pretty well and the member was impressed! Haha! (I don`t have any pictures because for right now my camera is a little broke)...

Hope all is well in the States! Uruguay is doing great! It is starting to get a little colder so my days of getting sunburned are numbered haha! Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 73

This week was a long one... haha! It was definitely not one of the weeks that I have enjoyed most, it was a battle for sure, but we got everything worked out and I am a better missionary/person for having to go through this week. 

This last week was the week of transfers and I ended up staying here in Rocha with my companion. I am really excited to be staying here because there is still a lot to do and my companion is really great! Since we didn`t change, we worked like normal, but it was nice to see the new missionaries show up in Rocha. I am really excited to see what happens here these next few weeks, it`s like there is something in the air here that just says that miracles are coming to Rocha! 

I also realize that my email last week might make it sound like I am excited that this family is getting separated. That is not what I meant to sound like... haha.... We are currently helping three other families get married, but just in the case of these two ladies, it was better that they leave the abusive relationship that they were in and live somewhere else.  We only help people come to Christ! 

Hope your week was better than mine! I love y'all!

Love,

Elder Cole 

Week 72

This week was an interesting one! We have been working for the last 6 weeks (and other missionaries for the last year) to help a women be baptized. After a year of coming to church we had helped her stop smoking and helped her move out of her boyfriends house! She was so excited (as were we) for her baptism this last Saturday! It was wonderful! And then Satan worked overtime.... In a court case with the boyfriend, our investigator was told that if she didn`t move back in with him, the judge would take away her rights to their daughter. So like any mother, our investigator moved back in with her boyfriend to keep her daughter. It truly was a heartbreaking experience and it pulled her back into smoking a little bit. She still has the goal of being baptized! It is just going to take a little more work.

We saw another miracle this week!  We are teaching another woman who is living with her boyfriend and has been coming to church for over 3 years, she just has to get moved out before she can be baptized. Her boyfriend is into drugs and is a little abusive. So over the last couple of weeks we have really focused on the topic and have really motivated her to think about the importance of baptism. She told us this week that she will be moving out!  We are super excited for her to take this big step with faith that the Lord will help her not only be baptized, but to continue being blessed after! 

The mission is full of ups and downs and this week was no different. I am really glad to be here and for all the Lord has done through me to help the Uruguayos in Rocha! 

Love yall!

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 71

This week was fine. I had the chance to go to a place called La Paloma and it was super cool! La Paloma is where all the tourists go on vacation and it was really beautiful! It was kind of hard to find people to teach since most of the people there were only in  town for the week and then were headed back to Argentina, but it was still a cool experience! 

We also saw a huge miracle this week with one of our investigators! She has been coming to church and trying to be baptized for about a year now, but hasn`t been able to stop smoking. This week she hasn`t smoked a single cigarette (I`m not sure anymore if that`s how it is in English)! We are super excited for her and grateful for the Lord`s love and power acting in her life right now! 

This week we also got to watch the announcement of the new President of the church, President Nelson! I am super excited to hear more talks from him. Since I have been on the mission I have really loved listening to his words! He truly is an inspired man and I really look forward to learning from him during his time as President of the church! 

I love y'all! I hope your week is a great one!

Love,

Elder Cole

Week 70

This week was pretty normal..... We really saw the Lord working in our area and helping the people take those steps they need to to be baptized! For a little over a year the missionaries have been visiting a lady named Sandra. She has been coming to church and has already read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, but she hasn`t been able to be baptized because she smokes and is waiting on a legal paper that kicks her boyfriend out of the house. When I showed up she would let us talk to her, but she never really worked too hard at quitting smoking. So we started really helping her, calling her everyday, visiting her even a little late at night before we went home and we gave her a blessing that she would quit smoking. She finally started to quit smoking and the Lord responded to her efforts by blessing her. Then the problem was that she is living with a guy who she is not married to and does not want to marry him, but has to wait for some legal paper to come through so he leaves the house. About a week ago Sandra fought with her boyfriend and left the house. She says that she refuses to go back. Sandra is now really close to being baptized and she is super excited. I know that the Lord helped Sandra make the decision to leave that house. 

I know that the Lord is working in each of our lives! Maybe we don`t understand why things happen in our lives (like getting in a fight and moving out of the house), but the Lord always has a plan for us and in this case I know that the Lord has been preparing Sandra to be baptized! 

I also had the chance to watch the funeral of President Thomas S. Monson. It was great! He was truly a prophet of God! He will be missed, but his stories and teachings will always play a part in my life!

I love y'all! Hope all is well at home!

Love,

Elder Cole

Part of the family email:

Hey Ma! This week was good! Sorry I am emailing so early, we traveled today and I won`t be able to write later. We had a little bit of a tough week, but all in all it turned out well.  I feel like the days just fly by and there is never enough time to get everything done, but I guess that is good haha. 

Today we are in a place called Chuy, half of the city is in Brasil and the other half is here in Uruguay. Its cool! It rained a lot this week.... not much else happened.... we have an investigator that moved out of her boyfriend's house so now she can get baptized! She just has to quit smoking, but she is working on that! Please pray for Sandra!