So to finish off the story we had to climb up on the roof and go through the hole, i got cut on my face a little bit from glass but it all went well and it was a once in a life time experience. A neighbor had a car so we took him to the hospital in that, he was laying down in the bed of the truck screaming, it was a little funny because he was using a lot of bad words but it was sad. I'm excited to Skype, Tace and i have been talking about how we will do it and we have a pretty good plan, i just have to put a specific day and hour with him and he will get it all set up on your part. 

This last week was a good week for us, Christmas is an interesting time here in El Salvador. It is full of parades, parties, fireworks and drunk people. Pretty much everyday where i am there is a dance party or some type of party that makes it interesting and hard to work because none of the members or investigators are in their houses due to the parties. The attendance in church was really low as well so this whole month with be a month of suffering for the church but its all good. So these past two months i have been reading the Book of Mormon and i finished it in exactly two months and it was amazing. My plan is to read it every 4 months in the future which is a very reachable plan, i have learned a lot these past two months and this last week i started to read it in Spanish again and hopefully will finish before the next general conference. Also this last week we had a Christmas party in the house of the mission president and here is a picture of one of the things we did. We did a little scavenger hunt and for a picture we had to take one with every ones feet off the ground so i decided to be the main part in this picture ;) I hope you like it. 

Cole

Mom-

It sounds like it was a good week for you in the office, the things you tell me are really interesting to hear and i like to share them with my companions and friends that are here with me and they all get a good laugh from them. You don't have to clean any of the messes up do you, or is it just the nurses? Like you i had a good experience that probably will never happen again in my life but ill get to that later. I don't have my release date but i think it will be in the last week of June but I'm not fully sure. I have done some calculations on a calender of 2013 that i have and I'm pretty sure its the last week of June but ill double check when i get back to my house and ill let you know next week.

You don't think you can cook but i miss your food so much i don't think you could comprehend it. The food here is good don't get me wrong but i miss your home cooked cookies, chicken Alfredo and a bunch of other things! When i come home i will be so happy to eat your food! I'm glad you get to stay dirty for a couple of days, i wish i could not shave for a couple of days but that's not allowed, when i get home I'm going to grow a fat moustache i think.

It will be cool being a trainer, I'm not right now but i will be in a week and a half. It turns out that my companion has had problems with his visa so he isn't here yet so I'm with another companion until the 20 of this month when he comes in. Right now I'm with an Elder named Elder Escalante from the Dominican Republic. This is my first companion from there and he is very interesting, i never get bored so that's a good thing. He tells the most wild stories and if they are true he has not lived a normal life. So Sunday night we were on our way home and we were about to walk into our neighborhood when a man comes out yelling for help so me and my companion started running to where he was and we found out that a drunk man had climbed on top of an abandoned house and he fell through the roof. No one in the neighborhood has keys to the house so we couldn't open the door to get him out and he couldn't go through the window either because they all have steel bars protecting the house from people getting in. So we have a 250 lb drunk man that fell through the roof of a one story house that hurt his back really bad from the fall and couldn't move, with no way of getting him out of the house except from the place where he came...the roof and we only had three guys to get him out. Oh, he was also bleeding really bad from his mouth, which was actually blood coming from his stomach we found out the next day. So, after 20  minutes of struggling and working we got him out and got him to the hospital and he is in bad shape. We found out that he climbed up on the top of the house because he was looking for his wife...ya we should choose better to not drink because he will have problems for his whole life now. I thought it was a cool experience! 

Anyways it was a good week and I'm doing well. Tomorrow is our Christmas party in the house of the Mission Prez.

Cole

Only one more month until we finish this year and its crazy, this year went by really fast!

This last week was a good one, today was a fun P-day for us. This is the second time I've hiked a volcano here in El Salvador, it took forever! We had a good group that went so it was a lot of fun. My mission president called me yesterday morning and extended another calling for me, he asked me to train again. This will be the third time for me to train, I'm not sure who my new comp is yet but i will know Wednesday. I'm excited to train again but its really tiring and stressful but maybe i need to learn things from it. This means that i will be in my area for at least two more changes and ill be here for a total of at least 9 months and in this same zone for more than a year! I'm thinking about changing the name of my mission because I'm not in the city, I'm in the middle of no where ha but its all good, I'm ready for the third time challenge. Saturday was a cool day for me, one of the families i helped reactivate got married! Its so cool to see the progress of your investigators and the Less Active members in your ward.

I think that's about it for me this week, i cant wait to get your letter! I hope you have a good week and stay safe!

Love Always,

Cole

As for me, you want to know what i eat. Well where i am is very far away, from the capital its about 3 hours in a bus so there isn't much here. To eat we have two really big restaurants that sell one thing...chicken! That's all we eat here, chicken, rice and beans. I love it but it does get a little old after a while. There is Taco Bell in the capital, as well as Wal-Mart, Price-Mart (like Costco but a little smaller, we cant enter though) McDonald's, KFC, Little Cesars, Burger King and things like that. I haven't been in the city for almost a year so i don't remember the taste of that stuff ha I don't want to eat out because i cant bring myself to spend money.  We had a good week, we saw some miracles! We have been having a really tough time on Sundays with members attending church so me and my companion felt that we needed to work more with the members and so that's what we did this last week and it worked! Two weeks ago we had an assistance of 88 in sacrament meeting and this week we had an assistance of 122!! It was amazing to see that every person that we visited came to church, even the ones that told us that they wouldn't go, went! It was really cool to stand in the doorway and welcome all of the members that came and see how they felt the spirit during the sacrament meeting. I had a funny experience with my Bishop yesterday when we were visiting some less active members. Somehow he knew that i don't like to spend money on buses, it gets expensive, so i ask for rides. Well he said Elder lets see how well you can ask for a ride and put your theory to the test and see if you can get a ride for us back to the house. Well the first person that drove by i asked for a ride and they gave us one, not only did they give us one but they went out of their way for us and dropped us off at his doorstep. After i jokingly said, Bishop you didn't have faith in me and he said he didn't for that purpose, it was a funny experience. Other than that everything went well for us and I'm doing well.

Well for me this last week was a really interesting week. Saturday morning we got a call from the mission president saying that my companion had changes and that i wasn't going to have a companion so i was being put in a trio until they find me another companion. So i went to another area Saturday, Sunday and today. This morning i got another call saying that i was going to be changed to another area to help some missionaries that are having a lot of problems not working and not obeying the mission rules, this will be interesting. I'm a very relaxed person and don't rat people out but I'm nervous about that because i know they aren't doing what they should but i don't want to be the rule breaker. Mom, its kind of like you when you had to break up two people kissing in their car at a church dance....i bet you didn't feel good but you had to do it. This next week will be interesting but hopefully i get my new companion in these next couple of days. Oh i also wont be getting a real missionary, it will be a mini-missionary that wont be Set apart, interesting. Some interesting facts that we found out this week. Our mission is getting 80 new missionaries in these next couple of months so a lot will be required of us in these next couple of months but we will see. Its kind of cool being the older missionaries in the mission but its really weird because the younger ones really look up to us, its cool. The mission president will be splitting almost every area in 2 to be able to give areas to all the new missionaries.

It is really hot here still, we passed the rainy season of no rain in my area so ya its really hot. The buses don't have AC, only the super special ones but those cost a lot...we go on them when we can because they only have the big routes not the little ones.My Spanish is good, i still have a lot to learn but i can say whatever i want and i understand everything so its just the little things now...it is tough to learn. Ya i wouldn't want to go to a college in Ohio but if i had to i wouldn't mind it. I'm just looking at all my options right now so we will see whats up in December. I don't want to wait until i have 24 years of age to get married, that's too long mother! Being with Dev would be really cool, we have been talking about it a lot.(Devan is his bestfriend from Texas, he’s serving in Hawaii right now).

Well i think that's about it for me this week so i hope you have a good week and all goes well.

This week brought new challenges as well as new friends. (Dryers, cars, toilets, showers and door locks) I’m learning that things like birthdays and Thanksgiving isn’t really about a cake or a turkey.  It’s about the people that we share them with or the memories of times past.  My sister came to visit and reminded me that I can have confidence in myself because I’m surrounded by people that want me to succeed.  The success is not mine alone but my friends, family and my Heavenly parents.  Thank you all so much.  Lorelei

This week was a good week for us, it sounds like it was an interesting one for you as well. Your were right when you said we cant do anything by ourselves, no matter how good we are at something. Its just like Michael Jordan, he didn't win all of those championships by himself, he had a whole team to back him up. Its the same thing here for us because we can have all the investigators we want but if we don't have the support of the members and their help then we wont get anywhere in our missionary work. I'm glad you have so many people there to help you when you need it and when you don't need it.

This past week for us was pretty good, we had changes and i have a new comp from Guatemala. His name is is Elder Vasquez and he is sweet. I'm really glad we had changes, things are looking up for us now that we get along really well and the members can see that. This past week we found a lot of people that are ready to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I'm loving it. I'm was ready to change areas but its ok being here another change, i think ill be here a change after this as well but we will see what happens. Nothing really big or funny happened this week, well we did have a mission conference and changes which means that two days in a row we had to wake up at 3 am to take 3 buses to get to the chapels where we were having the conferences. In one day we had traveled about 7 hours in buses, it was an interesting experience. I'm not sure if i wrote this last week or not but ill say it again, a member of our ward that we helped reactivate and baptised his family gave me a coin from El Salvador from the year 1911! Its really cool and really old so that was something cool that happened.

Im glad you had a good visit with Kimberli and you had some good experiences. I think thats about it for me this week so i hope all goes well for you and you stay safe.

Love you lots,

Cole

Dear Coleicious,

 

Well, honey, what one thing did you learn this week?

    What were you most grateful for this week?

 

I think these questions should be asked of each of us each week.  This week I learned that I cannot do everything by myself.  I had to rely on lots of different people this week.  I tried things myself but then had to call in reinforcements.  Brother Taylor to fix plumbing, tow trucks and car repairmen, sisters to engineer plumbing connections and friends to complain to, and children that call to check on me. At one point Kimberli were in the bathroom, wet and laughing because we had just made three projects into even bigger messes needing "professional" help.

 

I am thankful for your dad this week.  The owner of Highway garage was helping me with my car situation and he called me at work about your dad.  He told me that Dad was well regarded in the auto body industry and they had a write up about his contributions in their newsletter.  He offered condolences, and took a little off my bill. Can you imagine what the consequences could have been if he had been unethical or mean?  Because of him, I can be proud of my name.  People are watching and making snap judgments about us all the time.  When people at work find out that I'm Mormon they bring up other LDS families in Aurora.  I'm thankful that they are people I am proud to be associated with.  Think about it......I'm also grateful for orthodontia.  I am a smile, people (at work) can't believe I'm still smiling through every weird thing that happens to me.  But, they don't know what we do, do they?  If I had yucky teeth I wouldn't be comfortable smiling all the time.  So thank you Dr. Pizza (my orthodontist) and my parents for paying the bill.  So, find something to be grateful for and share

 

Take care of your name!

Love, mom

This last week was really cool for us, we had two baptisms! One was Friday night and one was Sunday right after church. We planned one right after the mutual on Thursday and one right after church to have a good assistance at the baptism and we for sure had it. The baptismal room is really small so we didn't all fit in there it was cool. The people who were baptised bore their testimonies and it was really powerful, one is really sure he wants to go on a mission and he doesn't really have the support of his family, which is kind of sad but its really cool. We just got news about our chances and i found out ill be in my same area again but my companion will be leaving. This means that ill have 4 changes in my area, about 6 months and in this zone ill have about 10.5 months. I was really hoping for changes because ill have 16 months with only 3 areas which is very very unusual but i just have to keep in mind there is a higher power telling me where i need to be so i just have to accept it. I took a picture of the shoes i am using now and have used all my mission and they are still going strong, they have 16 months! I hope you like them mom ;)

This last week was a good week for us, it was interesting. Nothing way out of normal happened, no one died in church....did i ever mention that? In my last area a woman died in Sunday School and 5 minutes later she came back to life...it was an odd experience. Anyways, We finally got all of the paper work worked out for one of the families to get married, Ive been working with them for 4 months, but she has her baptism planned for this next Thursday. We also have another baptism planned for Sunday, for a future missionary! We talked to him last night and he really is serious about serving so that's really cool. He was asking who will be there in the church to support him because his best friend is leaving for his mission the 24 of this month so he is a little worried about that, he will be the only member in his family. After talking with him for a while we cleared up his doubts and he is really excited, i cant wait to see this baptism. I’ll be sending some of the pictures of the wedding.

Ya my last letter might have been a little tough but it was a good one huh? I have dealt with a lot of things here in the mission and somehow am able to keep going, I'm not sure how but I'm doing my best. I don't always feel like its enough but its the best i can. I do have a mosquito net, i got bit in the street near a huge tank of water and had a really bad rash but its almost gone. Sometimes it goes away then comes back its really bad and i didn't have any bleeding so it wasn't bad dengue. As for the medical insurance will it cover all or will we have to pay because if we have to pay then i dont think i will want to do it, ill feel bad.

That's a funny story about the sandwichIs the house on the market? Is all the stuff moved into the new house? When you started off that story i thought you were going to end it by saying that you left it in the shed for weeks and it collected mold and had rats and you had to call someone to come clean it up...your ending was a better one. :) That's awesome about Chris Anthony got is mission call, has he sent in his papers yet? Maybe by the time he fills them out, sends them in and goes ill be home so i could say by to him. That's awesome that he can, he will love the mission!

Things here have been good for us this last week, we had a lot of interesting experiences. On my hour and a half bus ride here to write i was thinking of some of them and ill share a couple with you. My area is really really big and we don't have cars or bikes so we have to take buses, which cost a lot, or we ask rides so we were asking for rides on the high way and an 18 wheeler gave us a ride, that was cool at first. So we were going normally and all of the sudden one of the tires pops and that was a little scary but everything was good. Recently they started paying the police again which is good but that might have been too much to ask for because now they aren't paying the postal workers...so sorry to the people that wont be getting my letters right now haha One of the families we were teaching and were going to baptise this week is not doing so well. The man came home drunk a couple nights in a row and now the woman doesn't want to marry him so that is just a little problem. We are trying to get things worked out with them so we will see how it goes. Other than that things are well, I'm getting healthier and still attempting to lose weight but its just not happening.

This last week for us was an interesting one, my companion had Dengue hace 2 weeks and now i have it...its not fun! I have a rash all over my body and am in a lot of pain but I'm sucking it up and powering through it. We had a family come to sacrament meeting yesterday and in the Gospel Principles class we talked about Eternal Families and wow that was a powerful class, the sister started to cry...i think they might be coming more often now. We are working hard and doing as much as we can being really weak with Dengue but its all working out, God is making up for what we are not able to do. Our house is full of mosquito's, its a breeding ground, and were trying to change but in my area there are no other houses to change to so we will see what President allows us to do.

This companion is the toughest i have had so far and i for sure am learning patience. All i am able to do is try to think positive and serve him. Serving someone without anyone asking and not expecting a thank you back is really tough but it does help us learn to love all and it sure is helping me. We don't have much in common but I'm doing my best to help our companionship. So something cool that i found out is that as of 3 months ago the government hasn't been paying the police...ya I'm in the most dangerous country in the world without any police....they are all protesting and its a little nerve racking sometimes but i know I'm protected as long as I'm doing what i need to be doing. 

This ´last week was a good one for us, my companion that i was training got changed...he just finished his training. I am now with Elder Alameda from Mexico. He has two months less than me in the mission so that's pretty cool but i will have to learn a lot of patience with him. I have really learned to bite my tongue and just let things go and just follow after him to clean up his messes but its ok, its preparing me for kids ha we have been working hard and have 4 baptismal dates for this upcoming month and possible two more but we will see. The work is really hard here and people are really full of apostasy, that's what makes it tough but it played right it can be won! It was hard to work this last week because my comp has dengue so he has no energy to work...a lot of elders have been in the hospital for dengue...its really bad here now. 

I really enjoyed reading your talk, i have had a pretty tough life but Ive come to realize a lot of people have way tougher lives...I've seen a lot of life changing things these past couple weeks that have been hard to see and wont leave my mind but maybe that's a good thing. 

Anyways i hope you have a good week and all goes well for you.

The lord has many promises about tithing and one is in 3 Nephi (Book of Mormon). The Lord says that he the windows of heaven will be opened and we will receive so many blessings we won’t be able to take them all in! What a blessing it is to know that. Tithing can be a big sacrifice but it brings more blessings than the sacrifice itself. God doesn't need money, this commandment is more of obedience and when we are obedient there are blessings, 100% of the time.

This last week was a good one for us, we had two baptism sand they went well. We have been working on this family for about 2 months and sadly could not baptize the family, just the daughters. We have to marry the couple before we can perform the baptisms and we have had many problems with the government and their papers so were trying to solve them and then perform the ordinances this next week. Right now were looking for new people to teach, we have had to drop many people these past couple of weeks because they weren't progressing. It’s sad to have to drop someone because the message we have is the truth and they don't want to change to accept it. Maybe in a little while dad can teach them in Heaven.

We had a cool experience this week, I had the chance to go and climb up this clock tower that was like 3 or 4 stories high and while we were up there, there was a strong earth quake and that was pretty scary. The whole tower was shaking and swaying it was sweet but scary. All turned out well and i think only a couple of people died, from collapsing buildings but I'm all good.

 Be safe and happy this week and know dad is smiling down on you. J

Love, Cole

This last week was a good one for us, we had two baptism sand they went well. We have been working on this family for about 2 months and sadly could not baptize the family, just the daughters. We have to marry the couple before we can perform the baptisms and we have had many problems with the government and their papers so were trying to solve them and then perform the ordinances this next week. Right now were looking for new people to teach, we have had to drop many people these past couple of weeks because they weren't progressing. It’s sad to have to drop someone because the message we have is the truth and they don't want to change to accept it. Maybe in a little while dad can teach them in Heaven.

Love always, Cole

As for me and the traveling, i have been sitting in buses for hours in a day going to meetings and other areas; it is way tiring...especially in the buses that are so small. It’s really inconvenient but its ok, it makes me appreciate peaceful, air conditioned cars. We were expecting baptisms last week but they fell through again, all because of one paper we need. We have to marry this couple before we baptize them and wow it’s hard to do! I went to San Salvador, the capital, to try and take out some papers we need but I wasn't able to so now we have to go to another place even further. This country is amazing but they make things more complicated than they need to be but its ok were all learning. We are hoping, fasting and praying for everything to go well this week to have the wedding and baptisms this week. We have been through a whole lot with this family and we don't want to give up even though it’s requiring more than we can do.

As for me I think that's about it this week. We are tired from last week so were hoping to take a nice long nap today if it’s not 100 degrees in our house when we get back. Last week I had to sleep with a fan sitting on my stomach and another one blowing on my head because of the heat! Anyways I hope you have a good week!

Love, Cole

Things here have been good, it’s really hot but the work is progressing. We are hoping to have the wedding and baptisms this week, were hoping it all happens. Things are very difficult in this country but it makes good memories and I'm learning from it. Things really do happen in the time of our Father in Heaven, maybe we have been having the problems with the papers we need for a reason, it’ll all work out though, I know it. We are working hard to strengthen our ward, this ward is amazing but we have some areas to improve like all do. I am now the District Leader, meaning I am in charge of 5 other missionaries and our progress of work. I am really excited for this and to see how it all goes. In my mission I have felt a lot of things but the ones that I focus on are the good times and the learning experiences I have had, well every bad time has made a learning experience so it all has been good and for the best.

Well I think that's about it for me this week, a lot is always going on and were keeping busy. This next week will be a very busy week for me, a lot of traveling but I'm looking forward to it. I hope all goes well and the reception goes smoothly. Remember to keep it fresh.

Love always,

Cole

We as missionaries really focus on asking the people we teach inspired questions and its amazing the answers you can get from one simple question. For example we can challenge someone to baptism and have them commit to the date just by asking them what do they want for their kids in this life. We can ask them what they want in this life and get an answer telling us that they are divorced and their kids passed away...it’s amazing the things that can come from the spirit. When we ask by the spirit, we receive by the spirit!

 Well other than that we had a rough week, we really see the power of Satan and how he can change things very fast. We had three baptisms planned for this last Saturday and we didn't have one! All of them will not be getting baptized at all because they gave into temptation. We have a wedding planned this Saturday and then baptisms planned for Sunday, a family! We have been working really hard on this wedding so I hope it all goes well. Can you believe that, I'm planning weddings here? It’s nothing too special but as long as it is meaningful for them it’s perfect. Our bishop had an accident this week, he rides his bike from place to place while he works and was hit by a car, he is doing ok now, he won’t die or have any permanent damage but he is pretty beat up. It’s amazing how fast life can change isn't it, we always have to be ready.

Love, Cole-man

Things here are good; it’s so stinking hot though I hate it! Our house makes it hotter than it is outside and it’s terrible, we can never get away from the heat. The missionary work is going well, we have three baptisms planned this week and hopefully a wedding a baptism of a family the following. We’re doing all we can to get them to make this covenant with our father in heaven but wow Satan is working really hard on them. With the heat it makes it hard to work, I feel bad when we go and talk to people and I'm just dripping sweat, it’s really gross. But as we know the work of the Lord cannot stop with some sweat.

Not much happened for us this last week, we had a lot of lessons and are getting a lot of references so we are really thankful for that! We have recently found this amazing family and we have a date set to marry them and baptize them for the 14 of this month! The father is less active, for about 10 years, and wants to change so much! It will be cool if it happens this month. Pray for the family Cañas! We have some other investigators that are really progressing and have baptism dates for this month as well so we’re hoping for that! We received 34 references this last week.

This week for us was a pretty good week, not much happened at all surprisingly! We had a good sacrament meeting yesterday and all the young women spoke and explained to us what young women was about. Now the young men have to do something to top them but they won’t, the youth programs here aren’t very strong sadly. I am so grateful for the youth programs that we had when I was a youth, I might not have liked all the things we did all the time but I learned from every experience and am grateful for it. It’s funny how much something means to us after we don’t have it for a while or at all.

Other than that we had some interesting lessons as always and some interesting experiences. It’s funny how some people just come up and talk to me because of my color and how big I am, it’s funny the people that approach us. Each day we have new experiences and it’s fun to see what happens. This Wednesday we have changes and I still don’t know if I will be changed from my area, I hope I will! I am ready for a new challenge so we will see. I’ve had 5 baptisms in this area and we have some more possibilities for this next month but I’m ready to go. My companion is really starting to bug me but I’m being patient and learning from it. I met another gang member that has killed 4 people, pretty sick huh? It’s funny the people we end up talking to in the streets, ha.

I have been in my area now for 4 months and am ready to leave ha I’ve been here for a while and am ready to have a change of pace. I have had to open both of my areas and I am ready to go to an area that has progress in it already so I can help people that know a little bit about the church. It’s fun to start from the beginning but it’s draining and takes a lot out of you. We’ve had 7 lessons in one day and wow that is a killer day along with contacting in the street. This week was a good week for us, not too much happened! We had 3 investigators in sacrament meeting and another one of the Lords converts, which we helped, teach received the Aaronic Priesthood. I love being able to help these children of God make these commandments and being able to see them receive the Priesthood.

We have a sister named Lucia that we have been teaching for a while and we have had some difficulties with her. She wasn’t reading the Book of Mormon earlier and she’s starting to now and we had an appointment with her yesterday after church to see how her reading went and we arrived and she wasn’t there. She usually is so we will go back tomorrow but I can see as we talk to her and teach her more with love and the Spirit the Lord is softening her heart every single time we go back. At first she was like no just the Bible is the word of God but after a while we helped her realize that she can’t just judge the BOM before reading it and she said about the part she has read that she likes it. Overall this week was a pretty good week for us and I’m excited to conquer another.

That’s about it for me this week, I hope you have a good week and stay safe.

Te Amo, Cole

This week was good for us, nothing miraculous happened sadly. We have4 baptisms planned for this month so hopefully I’ll get to see them. Another 6weeks has gone by so changes are this Wednesday and we won’t know until tomorrow night if we have changes. I hope we don’t but if I do ill have a new adventure ahead of me. It’s been really hot here and the bad thing is we can’t get away from it! No one has air conditioners so were sweating 24/7! I bet you can imagine how dirty the collar of my shirts are, ya they are gross. I hate the feeling of a wet collar, it really bugs me and I can’t wait to have normal shirt but it’s just one of those things we have to get used to. Well that’s about it for me this week, sad huh? Our investigators are progressing thankfully and we have people to teach! This area is way better than when we found it. Just the cutest thing ever, were teaching this little girl that is going to be baptized in two weeks and we asked her if she needed anything from us and she said yes I just want you two to keep doing what you’re doing, being really good missionaries. Wow this melted my heart, it was the cutest thing ever!

Dear Sister Herman,

Praying all is well with you. 

We had all the missionaries fill out a getting to know you form.  Elder Herman's answers were touching to me.  I thought you might enjoy reading a few.

Why did you decide to come on a mission?  I decided to come on a mission because it is one of our responsibilities as Priesthood holders. Also, it is like a tithing on my life, I’m giving 10% of what God has blessed me with in my life, 2 years. I love serving the lord! There’s more also :) 

Who is one of your heroes? My father has been. He has raised me to be who I am today; although I have a lot to improve I am who I am because of him and my mother. He is my hero. Words can’t describe what he has done for me.

Something that your mom would be proud of:  Before my mission I always took my mom out on dates. That was so fun;  I miss those times a lot. Me and my mom and dad got really close before I went to college, I was the last one in the house so we did everything together.                                                                                                         

 

What are some of your best attributes:  I care about everyone, my P. Blessing says that I have been blessed with the ability to seek out people who don’t feel like they fit in and make them feel good. I try to do this! I’m usually happy ha only when I’m not being selfish!

Elder Herman has grown tremendously.  His attitude is so positive and his faith is incredible.  We feel blessed to know the Herman family.  Thank you for your examples.  May God bless and lift you through the difficult times.  May He increase and magnify the happy times for you and all those dear to you.

Sincerely, Hermana Glazier

This past week was good for me; a whole lot seemed to have happened. I’ll start with the best, we had a baptism! Finally we baptized Hermano Jesus! Me and my companion like to joke saying we baptized Jesus again but really we are happy we had the privilege to teach him. He was the hardest person I’ve ever taught, his mind isn’t all there so it was tough but after we dropped him like 3 times then started teaching him again things got better and he was baptized and confirmed Sunday. After his baptism he shared his testimony and wow that was powerful. It was cool to see the thing she had a problem with before, the things that wouldn’t allow him to be baptized earlier, he had a firm testimony of now.

On Saturday we had the opportunity to attend a dedication of a new church building here in our zone that as well was really cool. Our mission president came out and dedicated it and the prayer was beautiful! He read it all, which was a little weird but it was good. Before the dedication he gave a talk and he had someone play primary songs on the piano while he was talking, that was really odd actually. I got a kick out of it; it seems like something that would come from the Office.

Last night we stopped by an investigators place to talk to him and we had an interesting experience. He owns a pizza shop and he gave us free pizza and a soda, that was cool, then he showed us his house. After he told us that he doesn’t like his church and doesn’t really go so that was a great opportunity for us to talk to him more about our church. Right as we were about to leave he said hey I have this friend that is from Canada and lived in the States forever do you want to go meet him? Oh by the way this investigator lived in the states for about 15 years so we were speaking English. But we went to this Canadian guy’s house and it was huge! It is the nicest house I’ve been in here and it made me miss home! His wife is from here that’s why they live here but she offered us Iced Tea and we had to explain to them the Word of Wisdom and how we couldn’t drink things like that. It really makes me realize we can talk about the church and the things we know all the time if we are listening and in tune with the spirit and want to share the gospel!

Time is flying by and I don’t know what to do! It’s way hard to get a hold of what’s going on and I don’t know if I ever will. Anyways this last week was good for me, not too much happened. We will be having a baptism for a man we have been teaching for 8 weeks, way much but it’s ok! Our relationship with him has been like a bad relationship with a girlfriend. We are good and he is progressing and then he stops progressing so we have to stop teaching him and then he starts progressing again and we get back together and teach him so it’s been a wild ride! Yesterday he had his interview and he passed so I pray all goes well today and tomorrow! We should be having another baptism on Saturday, we have been teaching him through the phone, which has been interesting. I’ve had to get used to praying on the phone and it is still kind of odd but it’s ok, I still feel the spirit.

This last week we got to go to an old persons home and help them out. I made some tortillas, they were terrible but it’s the taste that counts and we helped cook food, talked with them and sang. I have some funny pictures I will be adding with them and some other members in our district and some in elders in our zone.

Siempre recuerda que Jesucristo Te Ama mucho. Dios esnuestro padre celestial y el nos conoce personalamente, cada uno de nosotros!

Things here are going well! Were finally seeing the fruits of all of our work and boy its sweet. We went out on Sunday with members and visited a lot of less active members and that was a big help. We’re having success finding people and teaching them, we have a baptism planned for this week so were hoping that everything is ok and we can finally have one this change. We have been blessed and have been finding People Street contacting but this just isn’t enough. We need the help of our branch and we need references! References are the best way to teach people! I just wish everyone would understand the importance of this. This week I planned a capture the flag game with our branch so hopefully we have a good attendance and we can unite the branch some more. We have a good spiritual part planned in it so we will see how that goes, and I’ll tell next week what it was if it ends up a success.

Love, Cole

This past week was pretty good for me. Not a whole lot happened over here but something interesting happened at church on Sunday. So we don’t have a ward in this area, it’s a branch. They told me and my companion right away when we got here that they wanted to be a ward so bad and they were doing everything they could to become one which I found out later that they aren’t doing anything at all to become one. For them to become a ward they have to have a regular assistance of 125 or more people every Sunday for 3 months and have 24 active priesthood holders paying tithing. They have been having around 101 in assistance and progressing but this last Sunday they had 45, sad huh? And we hear this next Sunday will be worse because of the elections here. But the Priesthood that was there was 5 Elders including me and my companion. The worst part of it all is that we have 271 less actives in our ward! That is crazy. If we reactivated them we could have a ward and a branch. I talked with them about that on Sunday and it seemed like a huge shock to them. We’re trying to help them out but I’m not sure if they can. We don’t have a secretary and both of the counselors to the President are less active so this means that we have to fulfill those callings. So we might be those counselors and secretary by next Monday on top of our duties as missionaries and finding people. This branch is already a lot of work and will be so I’m wondering if I was put here for a reason, because Dad taught me how wards should run! I’m glad he taught me what he did; maybe he knew something I didn’t!

We should be having a baptism this next week but they guy has some crazy ideas. He thinks he has been called of God to make a machine that will make humans better. All you have to do is put love, patience, charity and things like that in it as well as the person and it will make them perfect. We’re trying to explain to him we can’t be perfect but he has the desire to learn and be baptized and he agrees with everything we’ve been saying. So with him I hope we can unpollute his mind. I thought we had a weird family but ha not at all, I’ve seen some way crazy weird here.

Not much else is going on here just one last thing. Last night we watched a movie as a branch, only like 5 people were there but it was called courageous. There was a part when the daughter of a man died and he was talking to his preacher and the preacher said are you going to be mad about the time you could have had with her or happy for the time that you did have with her. This made me really think how lucky I am to have had the first 19 years of my life with my father. I actually knew him, I can remember him, he was able to teach me a lot of things, I learned from him. I know if he was still here I would learn a lot more but I learned a lot from him and will continue to even if he isn’t here physically. I’m so grateful for the time I’ve had on this earth with him and all of my family, I’m so blessed!

As for me my new area is good, it’s dead. Before we got here the missionaries had emergency changes, well they got sent home so they were doing bad things and not working so we had nothing. Which means we had to start over with no new investigators or anything. Were in a Branch that is terrible ha they say they want to be a ward so bad but they don’t help the missionary work at all so were going to machete them this Sunday…machete with love that is. The thing is that the members don’t understand their role, they are supposed to find and we teach. It is the best way to baptize. My comp is ok, he annoys me a lot but I’m patient and just let it go. I’m better now at going with the flow actually I’m the bomb at it and maybe am too good with it but I’m learning lots. Its odd were being so obedient and working hard and having no success! But the Lord is teaching us and testing us and I know at the end of all trials are blessings we were holding it out.

Things are hot here in the South, way hot especially since I got transferred to another area. I am now in a place in the Orient or in other words way out in the middle of nowhere! It’s in the zone San Vicente it’s called Ilobasco. Its way hotter here than my last area, it’s like 2.5 hours from the capital sadly. I am now washing my own garments, by hand! Never in my life did I think I would be washing my clothes by hand, how convenient are washing machines? It really makes you grateful for them. It took me an hour and a half today to wash them and my arms are killing me, it’s a good workout. I have a new companion as well and he is from Guatemala. He is really odd and overly obedient, it’s hard to say there is such a thing but there is. He follows every rule and the rules that aren’t even there! So pray for me please. J Other than that not much is going on so I hope you have a good safe week. Know I love you and pray for you every prayer, that’s a lot in a day!

Love always,
Cole

Hey there mom and dad,

I like the best regards at the end of the email! Well I have to say that this past week was not what I wanted or expected. It was a very very hard week on me knowing that my dad was deathly ill and I couldn’t be there to help out or even see him one more time if he happened to pass away. I know that through Jesus Christ we can be happy and know that families are eternal, which is some pretty great knowledge if you ask me. I teach that lesson, The Plan of Salvation, almost every day and I didn’t think that I would have to be learning about it for myself while I was on my mission. It’s not something that I will ever want to have to use but then again it kind of is. I know that we all have missions to do after this life and if we live our lives in accordance to his teachings, then we can be with our families forever. After fasting for two days and praying lots I finally got the comfort that I needed when I got to talk to Mom, President Haymond, and my mission president, President Glazier. They helped me realize that I need to be here and that we do have a Ward Family back at home that does love my family, I am very grateful for this. My parents are the people that would do anything for anyone and I know that a lot of the families in the Hiram Ward will also so I thank them for their support for my Mom, Dad, Family and as well me. I appreciate all of the emails of support from ward members, there are a lot so I won’t be able to reply to them all in one week but ill will gradually.
I just want to say how lucky we are to have a Stake President like President Haymond. He really is a very spiritual man and without him and his help to me, I don’t know if I would be on a mission. He really is called of God and will help anyone who is in need; I have experienced this over the years of knowing him and this past week as well. He made me realize once again that i have two names on my name plaque, the Lord´s and my last name. I am here serving both of them and I need to make them both proud. As hard as it is me being here and not in Ohio where I want to be, I need to be here. I have that faith, or hope, that I need to have to know that things will turn out ok.

in a special blessing that I had before I came on my mission i was told that every life experience i have will help mold me to become a great man one day and I have to say that my life has not been a walk in the park. I like to think of it like a walk in the highway at night. I have to walk in such a way that I don’t get hit by cars and I have to pay attention to the headlights of the cars coming at me so I can see. Life often times is dark and we can’t see the things we need to but we always need to look for the light, it might be small and hard to see but it will always be there. Christ will always be with us if we allow him to be.

Mom if you can email my mission president or call him to tell him what is going on so that I can know what is going on will be great…its needed here. It stinks being in another country not knowing what is going on with my Dad. So, anyway you can get a hold of him would be great.

Thank you all for your support, it is much needed and I can feel your love all the way in El Salvador. I hope everyone has a good week and I know Dad will get through this.
I love you lots Dad! Remember i still want you to be here when i come back.

Love,
Elder Herman

Greetings and Salutations from El Salvador,
How are things going for everyone? It seems like this past couple of weeks have been busy for everyone. These past couples of weeks were kind of boring for us actually. A lot of the members and our investigators were all drunk or left town because of the holidays so we didn’t have much to do but we got through it and are back on our feet. It’s interesting to see how different countries celebrate their holidays, I sure learned a lot about how they do it here, it’s not my preference but whatever pleases them!
That’s cool to hear about the new investigator. A cool story I heard a while ago was about a woman who didn’t understand any English, she couldn’t read and she lived in the States. So as you could tell it would be hard for this lady to learn. It wasn’t going well for the missionaries because they couldn’t talk but once they gave her the BOM she knew it was the true church. That book has so much power we don’t have to read it, well we need to if we can but the Spirit that it invites can tell someone who can’t read or speak English that this really is the true church of God. I love that book!
Things with my comp are great, I love him so much! He is hilarious and is teaching me a lot. There are never dull moments between us so it makes things interesting. As for cambios (transfers) we have them this week and I found out last night I’ll be in the same area another change. So this means that I’ll be in my first area for at least 6.5 months…at least until the next change in 6 weeks. I feel like I have some things to do here so I’m working hard to take care of them…baptisms I mean.
New years I spent the night in my house with my companion talking about things and not being able to fall asleep until like 1 because the beechos outside our door were throwing off fireworks that sounded like bombs all night. Oh oops beechos are kids ha, a Spanish lesson.
What are your goals for this New Year? Our lesson on Sunday was about goals and I have a couple. Mine are just to read the Book of Mormon once every 6 months and to perfect Spanish…as well as some other small goals. I have a lot to work on and a lot that I want to change before I get back.
I am very grateful for this past year and the so many things that I learned and got to do. I am grateful for being here and can’t wait to get back…in 17 months! I hope everyone has a good week.
Love always,
Elder Herman