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