Well I'm happy to say that I got a text on Saturday night saying that "There was a Ginormus package for me in the office"!  I haven't gotten in yet but I'm excited for it!  That's one of the great advantages to having your trainer be the Secretary.  

This week has been pretty fun. Hard but fun.  Tracting in our area is pretty rough now because the kids are back into school.  The kids are the easiest way to get into a home because I'm a foreigner and they all want to talk to me.  We get a few return appointments but when we go back they are busy or there isn't a male there so we can't teach.  There are only two members who live in our area and they're always busy so member present lessons are hard to come by.  One of our biggest concerns now is with Ann Bon.  We just finished all of the lessons but she still wants us to come back.  We don't have a problem with that, but the she is too afraid to talk to father about baptism.  She attends church almost every week and she knows the church is true but she doesn't want to get baptized right now because of her father.  We offered to go talk to him but she won't show us where she lives.  Now we are to the point where I should just encourage her to do what she feels is right and not push her towards baptism.  Pushing her to be baptized will only result in a loss of a good relationship with her and a rougher time with the next missionaries.  Well on a happier note; we did a service project for a guard that works at a school near to our apartment and might I say I've developed a greater respect for the things some of these people do to earn money.  What we did was probably one of the things that teenagers hate most to hear.  No it isn't wash the dishes.  We trimmed a lawn..... with grass cutters.  My arms were so tired afterward I could barely grab a cup of water.  But it was worth it because the guard seems really interested in listening to us when he has free time and even asked if "We".. not any other missionaries would come to his hometown and teach his family.  Unfortunately he lives on Candunates (which is in the Legazpi mission) so no can do for us.  Although we could have a good referral for the missionaries there.

I'm so grateful for all that you've done for me and for the many sacrifices that you have made so that I could be here now.  It may sound cliche but these really are the best two years that everyone talks about.  No words can describe a mission unless you have experienced it for yourself.  I know it's hard being away from you guys but I really see why the prophet encourages All Worthy young men to serve missions.  This is helping me better my relationship with our Heavenly Father and I am truly helping my brothers and sisters here in the Philippines feel of the love of the Savior. There's a quote in Preach My Gospel that says  something like this  "These are our brothers and sisters and they "Need" what we have" -Jeffrey R. Holland.  Keep doing what your doing and soon the missionaries will probably be at your door quite often, which is not a bad. thing.  Mahal ko po kayo!!!  May God be with you till we meet again.

Dear Family and Friends,
Well this week was crazy with New Years!!! Almost everybody was busy, gone, or drunk which made things pretty difficult for Elder Villanueva and I.  We even had one investigator who fell asleep on us in the middle of the lesson which kind of made me frustrated.  But might I say that it was the hardest thing to sleep on New Years Eve due to all of the fireworks; people here LOVE firecrackers!  Not a lot really happened this week.  It was one of those weeks where we got punted a lot and nobody really wanted to talk to us.  Well except for the kids of course.  Kids in our area haven given me three nicknames which they use all the time 1. Mr. Bean 2. Wacky? 3. Mickey Mouse.  Now why they chose these names I don't know; but they do.  I think I get called Mr. Bean more than any other one though because I love to make goofy faces.  We have 8-9 kids who all want to listen to us for "Bible study" so we just need to get permission from their parents first.  I think I'm finally starting to learn how to use my white skin to my advantage.

I know I put this quite often in my emails but I'll say it again.  I still can't believe I'm 1/4 of the way finished with my mission!  It feels like yesterday I entered the field and I didn't know a lick of Tagalog.  Now I still don't speak Tagalog very well (although I can understand it pretty well) and I have truly grown a love for these people and this country.  No I don't have the luxuries of home; but I have learned that material things don't mean anything compared to the gifts of God.  I love you all and I wish you the best 2014! Make it a memorable one because it'll go by faster than you think.

Mahal na mahal ko po kayo!  May God be with you till we meet again.

(This is what happens when you only have two elders, have a curfew, and when baby powder is on your desk.)

Well it was so great to be able to Skype with you! That was probably one of the fastest hours of my life though; but it is okay.  We got our transfer announcements on Saturday and I'm NOT being transferred!  I thought for sure that I was going to be transferred to, but hey I'm not complaining.  I can do 1/4 of my mission in my first area.  Based off of my return date I am nearly at my 6 month mark as well!  It's a weird thought to think that I've been gone this long.  About our work.... This last week due to Christmas ask you can expect we got punted alot!  Everybody was busy and didn't really wanted to talk to us unless they were members.  The upside was that I was fed maraming beses (Many Times) from the members.  Even though it wasn't prime rib it still tasted pretty gosh darn good.  

Well I love you all so very much and I wish you the Happiest New Year.  I'm sorry this is a shorter email than usual.  There just wasn't a great deal that happened this week.  Mahal na mahal ko po kayo!  May God be with you till we meet again.

                              -Elder Cole

12/29/2013

                                                       Service with a SMILE  blowfish?

  

"I'll be home for Christmas.."  Okay that was uncalled for; but I still thought it was pretty funny.  Well this last week has had it's high points, and low points.  My personal favorite part of the week was when we had our Mission Christmas Party and everyone was there!  I got to see Elder Savage for the first time since we were assigned to our first area's.  I also found out that my tatay/trainer (Elder Manicdo) is the new Mission Secretary and he's only two transfers ahead of me.  Hmm... I really hope I don't follow the family line and become the new  Finance Elder.  I hate math!  Transfer day is on New Year's Eve so I'll probably be traveling to my new area with my new companion on one of my favorite holiday's.  Well unless by some miracle I stay here and train, which I really hope doesn't happen because I'm not ready to be a trainer.  On another note; I hate getting punted!!!!  I'm sure dad knows exactly what I mean.  We were punted from nearly 60%  of all our appointments this week.  That's the one bad thing about the holiday season, families are together but nobody wants to listen to you.  Even my good lookin American self has a hard time getting into homes.  But just last night one of our investigators (Jose) committed to baptism on January 26th and his oldest daughter said to give her more time to think about it.  It felt really good to have something like that happen again.  Like I said before, whoever said that the Philippines is a pushover mission needs to get his rear end  on a plane and have a taste of what it's like.  Walking around all day while it's 90 degrees (in December) just to get punted is not all that fun. 

Well I still haven't received your package yet but now that I have an "In" in the office; I should know right when it gets there.

Mahal na Mahal ko po kayo!  May God be with you till we meet again.

                                                    -Elder Cole

12/22/2013

Maligayan Pasko!!! (Merry Christmas)This has been a week of adventures!  I went on my first exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week and boy was that fun.  We got punted all day long but oh well; it was just a like a normal day for me.  Well I know that Dad's going to laugh at this.... I just know it.  Elder Villanueva and I started to teach a Jehovah's Witness. (Let me guess he started to laugh right)?  He's a nurse at a Brngy Hall in Pacol and he's trying to get a job in America.  When I try to speak Tagalog  to him he insists that I speak English so it's easy for me and so he can practice his English.  But let me start off by saying that this guy has done his research.  He brought out all of these maps of Jerusalem to prove his point.  In Alma 7:10 it says that Christ will be born "at" Jerusalem and in the Bible it says in Bethlehem so we had this big ole discussion about that.  He also believes that the sign of Christ's birth was evil because it let King Herod know that Jesus had been born.  That's not even close to 1/10th of the questions/doubts that he has.  He even had a doubt about the Articles of Faith because of when it says "We believe in the Bible as far as it is translated correctly".  So explained to us that he thinks that we have doubts about the Bible.  I didn't even know how to go about that because every time that we read from the Book of Mormon he always Bible bashed us.  He is definitely one of those investigators where I think to myself "The MTC didn't train me for this.  Then on top of that.... I finally faced the dreaded Balut.  I will say right off the bat that it was just as kadiri (gross) as I imagined.  Just as crunchy too.  The ironic thing was that it was on Friday 13th.  I won't look at that date the same ever again. 

Well I love you all and I truly do miss you all.  Every time I see pictures of you guys  it reminds me of how fast you are all growing up.  Two years are going to go by in the blink of an eye; but don't make it go any faster because I love it here.  Even though it's hard and I have my challenges I have truly felt the love that our Savior has for each and every one of us. Continue to be awesome!

                                                                Balut! Yeck!

Down the hatch.

Well this week has been a tender mercy from the Lord.  There has been a lot of success in our area even though our numbers don't show it.  Elder Villanueva and I have been able to get 8 new investigators this week!  But that came through just two families but I'd rather have families than anything else!  We are currently helping two of the investigators get legally married because they both were previously married but have been separated for 15 plus years.  They had 4 kids together so that brought up a few issues but President Reeder is helping us through the process.  This last week the Tatay and two of his kids came to church and they loved it!!  The Bunso (youngest) is 8 and he really enjoyed being around kids his age in primary.  The Primary President here (Sister Dela Cruz) reminds me a lot about mom.  She's always working hard and is always concerned for the kids.  Honestly I never thought I would be helping people get married.. but well here I am.  It's a really really weird thought to be thinking that next month is going to be my 6 month mark!  This time has gone by in the blink of an eye.  Transfer day for us is on New Years Eve so I really think that my time here in the Naga First Ward is about to come to and end.  I have really truly grown to love the members here; the support and encouragement that they have given me is beyond belief.  I'm starting to pick up Tagalog a little bit faster now.  I can understand it pretty well but it's still difficult to speak because there are so many different conjugations and it's hard to decide which one I need to use. May God be with you till we meet again.

Dad I think I might have found out a way for me to actually gain weight...... RICE!!!  I have gained 9lbs from the time I got here to now and we walk a good 4-5 miles a day in our area.  Right now I can almost eat a kilo of rice in one sitting.  But before I get to the fun stuff I just thought I'd like to mention that I think being a chorister is my eternal calling.  I always lead the music in church and for when we have FHE's.  I thought when I went on my mission I'd get away from having to lead but I've ended up leading just as much as I did back home.  You can tell bishop that just for some comic relief.

About the work; it's very difficult at the moment.  Elder Villanueva and I are struggling to get more than 8 lessons a week and we have very few progressing investigators.  Our strength is finding because "I'm white" and everyone wants to talk to us.  At the beginning people seem very interested but when we return they are always "busy" or not even there.  Yeah its frustrating at times but I've just got to keep my head up and keep smiling.  There's always a lesson to be learned, and as you know my patience could always use some improvement so that could be it.  Another sticky situation is with Ann Bon.  Both Elder Villanueva and I feel that she is ready to be baptized and she really wants to be to; the only problem is that her whole family is against her being baptized and she doesn't want to ruin her family relationship.  She's 19 so the choice is up to her but I really hope that her family has a change of heart so that she won't be worried about being baptized.  On the bright side of life; when we were teaching Andrew the other night he told us that he's going to prepare to serve a mission!!  I don't think I've ever smiled so big in my life (well close to it).  He dyed the rest of his hair black instead of red so he could go.  It's been amazing to see the growth in that young man.  He's already told me of how much he doesn't want me to get transferred (well the chances are pretty high).